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Creating an Environment to Enhance Business Development: The Case of a Developing Country, Lesotho
Get PDFOne of the functions of government is to create an environment conducive for business development, which would eventually impact economic develop-ment. This paper explores the perceptions of business owners and managers in Lesotho on the functional interventions by government on infrastructural development, and also identifies shortcomings in the current strategy. It became evident from a survey of 219 business owners and managers, that the infrastructure in Lesotho does not fully support business development, therefore, there is limited economic growth and development. However, the Lesotho government has recognised the need to improve both the quality and delivery of infrastructure services and has embarked on a series of reforms in inter-alia, the telecommunication, transportation, education and health sectors
Training Course “Fundamentals of Telemedicine” for Students of Medical Universities
Get PDFInformation and communication technologies (ICT) are of growing importance in healthcare and medical education. So doctors should gain skills and knowledge of general ICT’s and telemedicine application during their study at University. In 2013 an optional educational course "Fundamentals of telemedicine and e-health" was developed for students of the medical faculty in Nizhny Novgorod state medical Academy. Development of the course was preceded by a survey of student’s awareness and attitudes to various aspects of ICT’s application in medicine. The results of the survey showed that 60.4% of 149 respondents had a rough idea the term "telemedicine", while only 27.0% were able to formulate an acceptable definition of the concept. Students had a high level of general computer knowledge and a variety of the opinions about the value of ICT’s in healthcare, but a lack of information about telemedicine. A large group of students expressed a desire to gain additional knowledge and skills in telemedicine. In response, a theoretical and practical course, "Fundamentals of telemedicine", was developed. It entails of 24 hours of lectures, 22 hours of practice, 24 hours of self-study and a final test, and includes tele-education elements. The results of tests in the three years that it has been run show that the main objectives of the course have been effectively implemented
ClickTrauma: An App About Dental Trauma in Primary Dentition
No full textThe globalisation process and technology advances have led to the development of new strategies and methodologies in the education system. In the area of health, modern databases and research tools are being elaborated as well. Among different technologies, the mobile app is one of the most used because it affords quick information by optimising navigation and time. In current Odontology, dental trauma is one of the principal causes of dental loss and it is frequent in childhood. The diagnoses are very complex and it is very common do some research to get a better understanding. The aim of this study was to develop a mobile app, called ClickTrauma, for Odontology students and dentists with information about dental trauma in primary dentition, using IOS as operational system. For the development of the app Java, JavaScript, Ionic were used, and MySQL as a database. ClickTrauma offers seven different functions: diagnoses, clinical techniques and general information about dental trauma in primary dentition. Furthermore the users have access to information on how to prevent dental trauma, references and a quiz. The app was created to improve the quality of paediatric dentistry care. In addition the tool gives information about dental trauma in primary dentition for the user to get a better comprehension of the subject
Kidner – A Worldwide Decentralised Matching System for Kidney Transplants
Get PDFIndividuals suffering from kidney failure today face significant challenges in order to obtain a transplant. They are placed on a waiting list and ranked by priority in hope that a kidney from a deceased donor is a transplant match. They do have another option: a living donor; someone they know, family or friend, willing to give them a kidney. These people may not be a transplant match, however there is a solution, a “Kidney Exchange” or a “Kidney Paired Donation”. In these programs, if two mismatched pairs (living donor and kidney recipient) can be grouped together so that they become transplant matches, both kidney failure patients can receive a kidney. While a great solution, these programs have a significant pitfall. They are limited to the specific registry regions participating in their program. The Kidner project was developed to help these exchange programs better detect life-saving opportunities and enable more people to access kidney transplants.
Telepsychiatry for Transforming Mental Health Scenario
Get PDFLow and Middle Income Countries are struggling with poverty, political instability and inadequate healthcare facilities. Mental health hardly gets adequate attention and is relegated by other priority issues. The countries are stressed with a wide mental health treatment gap without any sign of adequate initiatives to minimise this gap. However, Information Communication Technologies (ICT) have shown promise in this regard. With the help ICT the problem of lack of trained mental health professionals, wide geographic area coverage and huge number of patients can be overcome. People can contact a psychiatrist or psychologist from their mobile phone whenever they need help. It removes the cost of travelling, overcomes the need to wait for an appointment and by-passes the fear of being identified as mentally ill during a visit to the psychiatrist. Millions of people can be addressed at a time using Short Message Service (SMS), Interactive voice response (IVR) and video clips. All these can reduce the stigma of mental health and can improve treatment adherence, two important obstacles in mental health service in low income counties. Social Networking Sites like Facebook have opened new horizons for understanding mental health conditions and providing interventions. All these initiatives indicate the potential of telepsychiatry to transform the tragic mental health scenario in Low and Middle Income Countries
Food and housing challenges: (Re)framing exclusion in higher education
Get PDFFood and housing challenges in higher education are increasingly apparent on a global scale, and South Africa is no exception (see, for example, Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Gallegos, Ramsey, & Ong, 2014; Munro, Quayle, Simpson, & Barnsley, 2013). The rising cost of living coupled with consistent fee increases, has meant that students are struggling to access basic necessities such as food and shelter. The recent and ongoing #FeesMustFall movement has, among other things, signalled that large numbers of students are experiencing material hardships, and are unable or unwilling to continue to pay the high cost of attending higher education institutions. This paper provides a review of food and housing challenges within the South African context, before arguing that exclusion from higher education, based on material hardship should be interrogated, given that much of the literature on exclusion in higher education has been based on interrogation of academic barriers and challenges with respect to epistemological access. This discussion will serve as the basis for a critical examination of the assumptions and core features of selected institutional responses to food and housing challenges in higher education in South Africa
Using memory work as a decolonising pedagogy in a study on District Six’s forced removal history: a case for epistemic justice
Get PDFPost-apartheid South Africa created pedagogical spaces to redress apartheid injustices and suppressed ontologies as a necessary path towards epistemic justice. The post-apartheid history curriculum states that the ‘study of history enables people to understand and evaluate how past human action has an impact on the present and how it influences the future’. ‘Forced removals’ is a common but under-utilised historical resource employable in the history classroom to connect the present with the past. The spatial, temporal, and psychological architecture of forced removals conceal intangible memory which has potential to become tangible, ‘post-abyssal historical knowledge’. This article argues that epistemic marginalisation of historically oppressed communities can be ameliorated by employing ‛emancipatory memory work’. Dominant epistemologies have privileged empiricism and rationalism over memory and introspection. To advance a fuller historiography of District Six, this article applies a critical memory work approach based on Schatzki’s notion of memory as practice, Wenger’s notion of ‘community of practice’ and Santo’s ‘post-abyssal knowledge’. Two separate focus group discussions were conducted with first-generation survivors of forced removals and third-generation grade 11 learners with ancestral origins in District Six. The study is informed by the question: what are the outcomes of a memory work approach when employed as pedagogy to decolonise the history curriculum? Based on a synthesis of memory themes, findings are co-constructed as ine‘post-abyssal historical knowledge’. In conclusion, suggestions are made to integrate memory work and forced removals as pedagogy towards decolonising the history curriculum
The culture of employee learning in South Africa: towards a conceptual framework
Get PDFThe shortage of skills amongst employees in both the private and public sectors in South Africa continues to be a topical issue as exemplified by the continued existence of a list of scarce skills which is published by the Department of Higher Education (DHET). However, the notion that there is a shortage of skills in the country has begun to be challenged with some scholars arguing that the real problem is a jobs shortage attributable to structural inequalities which are a legacy of apartheid and failure by the government post-1994 to address these inequalities. This, we argue, is the reason why unemployment, unemployability and wide workplace inequalities, especially as they affect people from previously disadvantaged groups (mainly women and black employees), persist. We further contend that what is missing from the debates around skills shortage in South Africa and the wider phenomenon to which these debates belong, that is, employee learning, is a holistic conceptualisation of the culture associated with it on the part of the government, employers, workers’ unions and even academia. Conceptualisation of this culture needs to go beyond the government and employer initiatives to the actual process by which employee learning takes place. In other words, it also needs to take into account the employees’ biographies, identities and subjectivities as well as the social interactions which they engage in as they learn in the workplace. We therefore propose a two-tier framework which integrates implications from two theories, that is Human Capital Theory (HCT) and Critical Realism (CR). Implied in HCT is the suggestion that the culture of employee learning is a function of the employer-initiated learning programmes, such as short courses offered by private employee learning service providers, Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) and block-release programmes run by some institutions of higher learning. The basic aim of these forms of learning would be to increase profitability through improved productivity which itself is a result of employees having been equipped with the requisite skills. Using CR, and Bourdieu’s (1986) idea of habitus, we, however, argue that the final architecture of the culture of employee learning is not linear but a complex and multi-layered product of such factors as the employees’ family and educational backgrounds as well as individual and collective agency in addition to the government and employers’ initiatives such as the afore-mentioned short courses. We also draw on Bernstein’s (1996) notion of learning domains to suggest that attention be paid to employees’ lived experiences which also mediate their responses to the government and employee learning initiatives. This would help with aligning government and organisational employee learning initiatives and strategies to the employees’ individual and collective workplace learning aspirations
Critical Identity and Ethical Consciousness in the South African Indian Diaspora
Get PDFBritish imperialist rulers aimed to prove the ethnic pre-eminence of their race. In response, indentured labourers arriving in Natal as part of the Indian diaspora established and developed their own ethical standpoint. By analysing historical and literary elements, it is possible to trace the emergence of a critical identity and ethical consciousness which were shaped by the experiences of the South African Indian diaspora community. Such identity is memorable and transferable to the country as a whole, and of considerable value in nurturing social/ist consciousness for countering current challenges of racism and materialist indifference. This paper falls into two broad sections, the first deals with the history and context of South African Indian diasporic writings; the second section deals with diaspora identity