Physically abused women's experiences and expectations of medical practitioners

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of physically abused women\'s medical consultations, the anatomical location of their injuries and the perceived support given by medical practitioners. Method: The sample consisted of 42 physically abused women who made use of the services of the People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) Organisation. The group was culturally mixed, with an average age of 35.7. A descriptive ex post facto semi-structured questionnaire/interview survey was used. Results: Of the 31 (73.5%) physically abused respondents who indicated that they had visited a medical practitioner, only seven (23%) visited their general practitioner on more than three occasions. Overall, 13 (42%) respondents were accompanied by someone on these visits. Most of the participants (n=20; 65%) acknowledged to the practitioner that their injuries resulted from gender-based violence, and the same number also identified the abuser. A large majority (n=26; 84%) recommended that medical practitioners consider a more comprehensive approach to their treatment. Suggestions included better medical treatment, emotional support, referral to other health workers, referral regarding legal issues and contacting the abusive partner. Face and neck injuries were mentioned most frequently (n=27; 67.5%). Trunk injuries (n=19; 47.5%) were mostly found on the lower back and thorax. Limb injuries (n=25; 62.5%) were often sustained on the upper limbs. On the lower limbs, the areas above the knee were most frequently injured. Overall, most of the injuries were located in publicly visible areas.Conclusions: General practitioners are often the first professionals with whom physically abused women come into contact. More effort should be made to inform practitioners of the unique composition and acuteness of these women's needs.Keywords: domestic violence, physical injuries, women, expectations of health care providersSouth African Family Practice Vol. 47(5) 2005: 47-5

The Maritime Traditions of the Fishermen of Socotra, Yemen

The Socotra archipelago lies approximately 135 nautical miles northeast of Cape Guardafui, Somalia and 205 nautical miles south of Rās Fartaq, Yemen. The archipelago is made up of four main islands, Socotra, <Abd al-Kūri, Sam+a and Darsa, of which Socotra is the largest and most densely populated. The population of Socotra is divided between the interior pastoralists and the coastal fishermen and traders. While scholarly studies concerning the interior population abound, the fishermen of Socotra have received very little attention and little about them or their traditions is known. This thesis seeks to address this balance by studying their maritime traditions and asking the question, how have social, environmental and technological influences shaped the maritime traditions of the fishermen of Socotra? The primary data forming the basis of this study is my ethnographic fieldwork carried out on the islands of Socotra and Sam+a between 2009 and 2010. This data is incorporated within a transdisciplinary framework that looks at some of the essential factors of historical, archaeological and environmental evidence to gain a holistic insight into the spatial and temporal factors affecting the maritime traditions of the fishermen. This study argues several important points. The first is that the fishermen’s maritime traditions on Socotra are governed by their length of involvement in fishing and understanding of the environment they are operating within. Secondly, their fishing practices are influenced by social and economic demands, which have a direct impact on the vessels and equipment they use. Thirdly, the environment and landscape plays a major role in the fishermen’s techniques and practices. Finally, it also argues that there is not a singular, uniform maritime tradition for the entire island of Socotra, but that there are numerous regional variations.The Golden Web Foundatio

A Forgotten Heritage Revisited

This paper presents a comprehensive review of historical and current rock art research on the island of Soqotra, Yemen and places these sites within a spatial framework from which it analyses themes concerning water and the visibility and invisibility of these sites within the broader landscape. The analysis of these sites shows how water was of fundamental importance to the indigenous inhabitants over the longue durée. It also highlights how rock art has not only been able to reinforce the ethnographic and historical accounts of the indigenous inhabitants, but also strengthen our temporal knowledge of the social and cultural lives of the inhabitants of Soqotra. View Full-Tex

Sedation for cases without local anaesthetic

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Nation building and the ‘struggle for Afrikaans’ under the new South African ‘rainbow’

Although the geographical, technological and economic aspects of the South African nation have a reasonably stable basis, the socio-cultural aspect is not only contested, but has since 1994 led to new movements and public debates regarding the recognition of the position of some categories/minorities and their rights in the newly-created democratic dispensation. It would not be correct to assume that all these ‘new’ movements and voices are of a centrifugal nature and therefore indicative of potentially separatist tendencies. Whereas most of the evolution and history of ‘Afrikaans’ stemmed from its proponents’ opposition to the imposition of English and its imperialist backing, the current debate is about Afrikaans being displaced and relegated to a lowly position by an Englishspeaking black-majority government. Surveying the nature and context of this public debate on the ‘position of Afrikaans’ will broaden the understanding of contemporary ‘nation building’ in South Africa. Again, social scientists could endeavour to comprehend culture ‘in the making’ as created by some of the ‘imaginative’ Afrikaans-speaking participants and the implications of this discourse for nation building and competition

Limited access to land rights for the powerless in Potchefstroom

The concept of structural violence is useful in the analysis of the land issue in urban areas in South Africa, more specifically in this case, the town of Potchefstroom from 1901 to 1952. By institutionalising racism, a situation of inequality of power and opportunities has been brought about. This can best be understood within the rigidly stratified system of apartheid: it imposed an alternative and restricted structure of land use on the specific subordinate category in the area of study. By creating this alternative system, those in power excluded the powerless from the "central" system. The concept of an alternative system can be understood in terms of the theory of structural violence, to explain the difference between the real and the potential attainment of human somatic and psychical abilities. Thus, structural violence is built into the very structures of a society and is concretized in unequal power and, consequently, unequal opportunities in life. Clearly, group and institutional discrimination in this area can be viewed as a form of structural violence because of the dire consequences, the indirect methods and the impersonal nature of these actions

An investigation of the psychosocial work environment of ministers in the Dutch reformed church, in the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Nursing qualification of the Department of Nursing Signed on 19 November 2015, JohannesburgBackground: According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, no 85 of 1993, Section 8, employers need to ensure a healthy and safe environment for employees to work in. Anecdotal evidence shows that the only psychosocial support ministers receive is from their peers. Purpose and objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the psychosocial work environment of ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church. The objectives are to explore the psychosocial work environment; to describe the existing psychosocial support for and to establish preferred supporting programmes in dealing with stress, regarding psychosocial health care programmes for ministers in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Research design and method: A quantitative survey study, with a self-administered questionnaire has been e-mailed to the total sample of respective participants using the REDCap system. Data analysis: Descriptive statistical methods were used to describe the socio-demographic information. Data was exported using Redcap and outcome data was presented with tables; numerical data was described using means (with standard deviations) and categorical data was presented using frequencies (counts) and percentages. Open questions were analysed and emerging themes were identified. Findings: High emotional work demands, poor leadership quality and ineffective social support were some of major indicators of ill health, burnout and stress in this study of the psychosocial work environment. Conclusions: The findings of the study highlighted the need for an occupational health programme due to the fact that ministers in these regions are exposed to psychosocial hazards in the work environment. Key words: Dutch Reformed Church, psychosocial work environment, ministers, occupational healt

Pitfalls and guide lines in the transition to object oriented software design methodologies

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering.Due to the dynamic nature of the software engineering industry there is a constant move towards new strategies for solving design problems. More specifically there is a move towards Object Oriented (OO) methodologies, presumably because of the various advantages offered in terms of maintainability, and reuse of code produced this way. As with various other aspects of the software industry there are however also problems encountered in this transition and lessons to be learned from the experience of companies who have already performed this change. This research report investigates possible guidelines for companies who are currently contemplating a change to the OO software design methodologies, by covering a collection of issues one should know about prior to this change. It also summarises the problems faced in the transition so far, the reasons for these problems and suggests possible solutions. Lastly it also investigates new trends in the OO arena. The emphasis is on South African companies and projects. The results obtained are compared with results obtained overseas to find out what the differences and similarities are. Areas of concern are also identified, where theoreticians' views have been ignored, and both South African and overeeas companies have not implemented any of the suggestions made.Andrew Chakane 201

Protection against oppressive or unfairly prejudicial conduct under the Companies Act 71 of 2008

Includes bibliographical references.The Companies Act 61 of 1973 (the "1973 Act") will be repealed in its entirety when the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the "2008 Act") comes into operation on a date still to be fixed by the President of the Republic of South Africa, in proclamation. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate what impact, if any, the 2008 Act will have on the remedies afforded to members or shareholders in companies to protect their rights in the event of so-called "oppressive or unfairly prejudicial conduct" by majority decision, or otherwise, in a company

Characterisation of Taro (Colocasia Esculenta (L) Scott) germplasm collections in South Africa : towards breeding an orphan crop.

Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Breeding. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2017.Amadumbe (Colocasia esculenta), better known as taro, is a traditional root crop widely cultivated in the coastal areas of South Africa. Taro is showing potential for commercialisation. However, very little is known about the genetic diversity, potential and its introduction and movement in South Africa. This study was undertaken to (1) determine the genetic diversity in the ARC taro germplasm collection using agromorphological characteristics and microsatellite markers, (2) to determine if it is possible to breed with local taro germplasm and (3) to determine the effect of four different environments (Roodeplaat, Umbumbulu, Owen Sithole College of Agriculture and Nelspruit) on ten agro-morphological characteristics of 29 taro landraces Taro germplasm was collected in South Africa in order to build up a representative collection. Germplasm was also imported from Nigeria and Vanuatu. The South African taro germplasm, and selected introduced germplasm, were characterised using agromorphological descriptors and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Limited variation was observed between the South African accessions when agro-morphological descriptors were used. Non-significant variations were observed for eight of the 30 agromorphological characteristics. The 86 accessions were grouped into three clusters each containing 39, 20 and 27 accessions, respectively. The tested SSR primers revealed polymorphisms for the South African germplasm collections. Primer Uq 84 was highly polymorphic. The SSR markers grouped the accessions into five clusters with 33, 6, 5, 41 and 7 accessions in each of the clusters. All the dasheen type taro accessions were clustered together. When grown under uniform conditions, a higher level of genetic diversity in the South African germplasm was observed when molecular (SSR) analysis was performed than with morphological characterisation. No correlation was detected between the different clusters and geographic distribution, since accessions from the same locality did not always cluster together. Conversely, accessions collected at different sites were grouped together. There was also no clear correlation between the clustering pattern based on agro-morphology and SSRs. Thus, in order to obtain a more complete characterisation, both molecular and morphological data should be used. Although the results indicated that there is more diversity present in the local germplasm than expected, the genetic base is still rather narrow, as reported in other African countries. Fourteen distinct taro genotypes were planted as breeding parents and grown in a glasshouse. Flowering were induced with gibberellic acid (GA3). Crosses were performed in various combinations; however, no offspring were obtained. This might be due to the triploid nature of the South African germplasm. It might be useful to pollinate diploid female parents with triploid male parents or use advanced breeding techniques, like embryo rescue or polyploidization, to obtain offspring with the South African triploid germplasm as one parent. The triploid male parents might produce balanced gametes at low percentages, which can fertilize the diploid female parents. Twenty-nine taro accessions were planted at three localities, representing different agroecological zones. These localities were Umbumbulu (South of Durban - KZN), Owen Sithole College of Agricultural (OSCA, Empangeni, KZN) and ARC - Vegetable and Ornamental Plants (Roodeplaat, Pretoria). Different growth and yield related parameters were measured. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analyses. Significant GxE was observed between locality and specific lines for mean leaf length, leaf width, leaf number, plant height, number of suckers per plant, number of cormels harvested per plant, total weight of the cormels harvested per plant and corm length. No significant interaction between the genotype and the environment was observed for the canopy diameter and corm breadth. From the AMMI model, it is clear that all the interactions are significant for leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves on a single plant, plant height, number of suckers, number of cormels harvested from a single plant and weight of cormels harvested from a single plant. The AMMI model indicated that the main effects were significant but not the interactions for canopy diameter. The AMMI model for the length and width of the corms showed that the effect of environment was highly significant. There is a strong positive correlation between the number of suckers and the number of leaves (0.908), number of cormels (0.809) and canopy diameter (0.863) as well as between the number of leaves and the canopy diameter (0.939) and between leaf width and plant height (0.816). There is not a single genotype that can be identified as “the best” genotype. This is due to the interaction between the environments and the genotypes. Amzam174 and Thandizwe43 seem to be genotypes that are often regarded as being in the top four. For the farmer, the total weight of the cormels harvested from a plant will be the most important. Thandizwe43, Mabhida and Amzam174 seem to be some of the better genotypes for the total weight and number of cormels harvested from a single plant and can be promoted under South African taro producers. The local accessions also perform better than introduced accessions. It is clear that some of the introduced accessions do have the potential to be commercialised in South Africa. The study indicate that there are genetic diversity that can be tapped into for breeding of taro in South Africa. However, hand pollination techniques should be optimized. Superior genotypes within each cluster in the dendrograms as well as Thandizwe43, Mabhida and Amzam174 (identified by the AMMI analysis as high yielding) can be identified and used as parents in a clonal selection and breeding programme. Additionally, more diploid germplasm can be imported to widen the genetic base. The choice of germplasm must be done with caution to obtain germplasm adapted to South African climate and for acceptable for the South African consumers