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Disentangling trait and daily experiences of uncertainty and meaning in life: implications for daily anxiety, negative affect, and somatic symptoms
Get PDFArticle, Faculty of Humanities (Research & Innovation)--Northwest University, Vanderbijlpark CampusBackground: Although there is growing evidence supporting the association between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and psychopathology, little is known about the covariation of IU and psychological distress day-to-day. The purpose of this ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study was to examine negative emotional and somatic correlates of trait IU and daily uncertainty, while investigating how a source of stability, meaning in life (MIL), might buffer against deleterious effects of IU and uncertainty.
Design and Methods: Adult community members (n = 62) from a mid-size town in the Rocky Mountain region completed baseline measures of IU and MIL and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of meaning, uncertainty, affect, and somatic symptoms over the course of one week.
Results: Results indicate individuals high in trait IU experience more uncertainty day-to-day and greater distress when they feel uncertain compared to individuals lower in trait IU; however, MIL plays a stronger protective role for high IU compared to low IU individuals.
Conclusions: These findings support and extend previous research showing IU is associated with psychological distress and that MIL may be a critical resource to cultivate. Interventions promoting meaning day-to-day may reduce the effects of uncertainty on the well-being of those highly intolerant of uncertainty
Investigation of ICRFB hybrid rebalancing systems
Get PDFArticle, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Chemical Resource Beneficiation)Northwest University, Potchefstroom CampusDue to their intermittent nature, the increased use of renewable energy sources requires further development in energy storage systems. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have emerged as a promising solution, where the iron-chromium RFB (ICRFB), due to its lower electrolyte costs, offers a cheaper alternative to the established all- vanadium RFB (VRFB). However, the ICRFB system requires a rebalance system to mitigate its capacity decay. This study aimed to assess the operational suitability of rebalancing with either iron or vanadium as proposed in a patent by Wei and Li. The iron-based rebalancing successfully restored lost capacity of an imbalanced electrolyte but faced challenges in recovering the spent electrolyte due to the required addition of iron powder, which led to an increased iron concentration requiring correction with chromium chloride in HCl, effectively making new electrolyte. While the vanadium rebalancing method was suitable, it resulted in vanadium crossover into the RFB when using cation exchange membranes (Nafion 212, 115 or 117) in the rebalance cell. Long-term operation (200 cycles), using an anion exchange membrane (FAP450), showed reduced crossover but presented challenges such as active species loss, HCl loss, and membrane fouling
Religion and ethnicity interaction as a predictor of male fertility in Nigeria: Evidence from a national representative sample
No full textJournal Article, Faculty of Humanities, Population and Health-- Mahikeng CampusHigh fertility constitutes a challenge to men's health conditions in Nigeria, a low-income country. Religion and ethnicity are central to the current Male Fertility (MF) level in Nigeria. This study determined the relationship between Male Fertility (MF) and Religion Ethnic Interaction (REI) amidst other socio-demographic characteristics in Nigeria. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data, 2018 was used. Men aged 15-59 years [n = 8,786] were sampled using a multi-stage approach. Fertility was measured by the number of Children Ever Born (CEB). REI was generated using the combination of religion and ethnic groups; Hausa/Fulani Muslim, Igbo Christian, Yoruba Christian, and Yoruba Muslim. However, Hausa/Fulani Christians and Igbo Muslims were excluded from this study because a few men in these categories were available in the original sample. Weighted data were analyzed using the Negative Binomial (NB) model (α0.05). The mean age and CEB of the men were 32.9±12.0 years and 3.18±4.4 respectively. The mean CEB among men aged 45-59 years was highest among Hausa/Fulani Muslims (x = 11.57±5.98), but least among Yoruba Christians (x = 4.44±2.67). About 33.4% of the Hausa/Fulani Muslims had had ≥5 children, while 13.7% were reported among the Yoruba Christian men (p<0.001). The fertility Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) was higher among Hausa/Fulani Muslims, but less among Igbo Christians, and Yoruba Christians than Yoruba Muslims. Restricting the analyzed data to only monogamous men revealed no significant differences in the fertility IRR of Yoruba Christians and Yoruba Muslims, but the fertility IRR was significantly higher among the Hausa/Fulani Muslims than Yoruba Muslims. A disparity exists in MF across the REI groups with the Hausa/Fulani Muslims being the major contributors to high MF. Therefore, bridging the gap in access to fertility control measures and programmes that might have resulted from religion and ethnic differences will reduce male fertility level in Nigeria
Biochemical assessment of the nutritional status of infants, children and adolescents in South Africa (1997–2022): a systematic review
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Health Sciences, Centre of Excellence for Nutrition-- Potchefstroom CampusObjective: To conduct a systematic review of the published peer-reviewed articles on the biochemical assessment of nutritional status of South African infants, children and adolescents in 1997–2022.
Design: Online databases (Pubmed, CINAHL, EbscoHost and SAePublications) were used to identify thirty-nine papers.
Setting: South Africa, 1997–2022.
Participants: Infants, children and adolescents.
Results: Vitamin A deficiency prevalence was 35–67 % before 2001 and mostly below 16 % after 2008. Anaemia ranged from 5·4 to 75·0 %, with 36–54 % of infants below 1 year being anaemic. Among 0- to 6-year-olds, iron deficiency (ID) was 7·2–39·4 % in rural and 16–41·9 % in urban areas. Zn deficiency remained high, especially among 0- to 6-year-olds, at 39–48 %. Iodine insufficiency (UIC < 100μg/l) was between 0 and 28·8 %, with excessive levels in two areas. Vitamin D deficiency was 5 % for 11- to 17-year-olds in one urban study but 33–87 % in under 10- week-old infants. The 2005 national survey reported sufficient folate status among 0- to 6-year-olds, and vitamin B12 deficiency was 0–21 %. Low-grade inflammation was between 5 % and 42 % depending on the biomarker and cut-offs.
Conclusions: Vitamin A status may have improved meaningfully during the last 25 years in South Africa to below 16 %, and iodine and folate deficiency appears to be low particularly among 0- to 6-year-olds. However, confirmation is needed by a national survey. Anaemia, Fe and Zn deficiencies still pose severe problems, especially among 0- to 6-year-olds. Sufficient data on vitamin D and B12 status are lacking
Interacting dark energy: clarifying the cosmological implications and viability conditions
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Centre for Space Research (CSR)-- Potchefstroom CampusIn this study, cosmological models are considered, where dark matter and dark energy are coupled and may exchange energy through non-gravitational interactions with one other. These interacting dark energy (IDE) models have previously been introduced to address problems with the standard ΛCDM model of cosmology (which include the coincidence problem, Hubble tension and S8 discrepancy). However, conditions ensuring positive energy densities have often been overlooked. Assuming two different linear dark energy couplings, Q =δHρde and Q = δHρdm, we find that negative energy densities are inevitable if energy flows from dark matter to dark energy (iDMDE regime) and that consequently, we should only seriously consider models where energy flows from dark energy to dark matter (iDEDM regime). To additionally ensure that these models are free from early time instabilities, we need to require that dark energy is in the ‘phantom’ (ω < −1) regime. This has the consequence that model Q = δHρdm will end with a future big rip singularity, while Q = δHρde may avoid this fate with the right choice of cosmological parameters
Unveiling extended gamma-ray emission around HESS J1813-178
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Centre for Space Research (CSR)-- Potchefstroom CampusContext. HESS J1813−178 is a very-high-energy γ-ray source spatially coincident with the young and energetic pulsar PSR J1813−1749 and thought to be associated with its pulsar wind nebula (PWN). Recently, evidence for extended high-energy emission in the vicinity of the pulsar has been revealed in the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. This motivates revisiting the HESS J1813−178 region, taking advantage of improved
analysis methods and an extended data set.
Aims. Using data taken by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) experiment and the Fermi-LAT, we aim to describe the γ-ray emission in the region with a consistent model, to provide insights into its origin.
Methods. We performed a likelihood-based analysis on 32 hours of H.E.S.S. data and 12 years of Fermi-LAT data and fit a spectro-morphological model to the combined datasets. These results allowed us to develop a physical model for the origin of the observed γ-ray emission in the region.
Results. In addition to the compact very-high-energy γ-ray emission centered on the pulsar, we find a significant yet previously undetected component along the Galactic plane. With Fermi-LAT data, we confirm extended high-energy emission consistent with the position and elongation of the extended emission observed with H.E.S.S. These results establish a consistent description of the emission in the region from GeV energies to several tens of TeV.
Conclusions. This study suggests that HESS J1813−178 is associated with a γ-ray PWN powered by PSR J1813−1749. A possible origin of the extended emission component is inverse Compton emission from electrons and positrons that have escaped the confines of the pulsar and form a halo around the PWN.Acknowledgements
The support of the Namibian authorities and of the University of Namibia in facilitating the construction and operation of H.E.S.S. is gratefully acknowledged, as is the support by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Helmholtz Association, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS/IN2P3 and CNRS/INSU), the Commissariat à l’Énergie atomique et aux Énergies alternatives (CEA), the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Polish Ministry of Education and Science, agreement no. 2021/WK/06, the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation, the University of Namibia, the National Commission on Research, Science & Technology of Namibia (NCRST), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the University of Amsterdam and the Science Committee of Armenia grant 21AG-1C085. We appreciate the excellent work of the technical support staff in Berlin, Zeuthen, Heidelberg, Palaiseau, Paris, Saclay, Tübingen and in Namibia in the construction and operation of the equipment. This work benefited from services provided by the H.E.S.S. Virtual Organisation, supported by the national resource providers of the EGI Federation
Rural-Urban Fertility Disparity in The Gambia: Standardized Rate, Decomposition, Parity Progression, and Determinants
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Humanities, Population and Health-- Mahikeng CampusThis cross-sectional design study examined rural-urban fertility differences in The Gambia. We used the 2019-20 Gambia Demographic and Health Survey data. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select women of reproductive age (8,747 urban & 3,119 rural). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kitagawa’s Decomposition technique, and the negative binomial (NB) model, α = .05. The mean Children Ever Born (CEB) was higher in the rural (3.25 ± 3.02) than in the urban (2.19 ± 2.45) areas. In the urban and rural areas, 82.8% and 95.1% of women aged 45–49 years who had had three children progressed to fourth birth, respectively. The parity progression rate (λ) was lower in the urban (-0.0647) than in the rural (-0.051). The difference between the standardized fertility rates in rural and urban areas was 83.2 in The Gambia, and the effect of the age composition attributable to this difference was 8.11%. The fertility incidence rate ratio (IRR) was 44% (IRR = 1.440, 95% CI [1.371, 1.513], p < .001) higher in the rural than the urban areas. A similar pattern of rural-urban differences in fertility was observed in the full model. Childbearing progression was higher in rural areas than urban areas and rural-urban differences exist in fertility determinants in The Gambia. Thus, rural-urban-specific fertility reduction programs may address the observed fertility differences in the rural and urban areas in The Gambia.Acknowledgments
We thank the MEASURE DHS program for providing us with the data used for this study. The article processing and editing charges support received from the North West University, Mafikeng by the lead author (Ayo Adebowale, extraordinary professor in the Population and Health Research Entity, Faculty of Humanities) is sincerely appreciated
Subject Advisors Understanding of their Curriculum Leadership Roles for Mathematics Improvement in South African Schools
Get PDF1 School of Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology Education, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South
Africa.
2 School of Mathematics, Natural Science and Technology, Education, Faculty of Education, (SDL), North-West University, South
Africa.
3 School of Education, Durban University of Technology, South Africa.The study aimed to investigate the curriculum leadership role of Mathematics subject
advisors in enhancing Mathematics education in South Africa. Using a case study
design, seven Mathematics subject advisors and ten Mathematics educators were
sampled from all seven districts of the Free State province. Data collection methods
included in-depth semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis.
Data analysis followed Tesch's (1990) eight-step coding technique. The field study
revealed that Mathematics subject advisors' leadership roles encompassed providing
support and guidance to educators, conducting educator appraisals, monitoring and
overseeing educators' and learners' workbooks, mentoring, and professional
development. They also handled administrative tasks findings like resource provision
and paperwork using monitoring tools. While all subject advisors aimed to improve
Mathematics achievement, their approaches varied. Some reviewed past strategies
while others adapted based on resource availability. Individual educational
philosophies also influenced their strategies. Moreover, subject advisors operate
within a network that includes principals, educators, learners, and the broader context.
Effective curriculum leadership depends on these interactions. Interestingly, none of
the subject advisors claimed comprehensive knowledge of their subject area. Some
lacked specialization in Mathematics or related fields in which they were operating.
Many expressed a need for training, particularly in managing and supporting
progressed learners. These findings suggest the need for a standardized model to guide
leadership training for Mathematics subject advisors. Such a model could enhance
curriculum leadership, thereby improving teaching practices and student performance.
Future research could use these insights to develop this model
Factors influencing Generation Y consumers' intention to purchase sneakers
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Workwell: Research Unit for Economic; Management Sciences-- Potchefstroom CampusThe fashion sector stands as one of the leading contributors to both the global economy and South Africa. In South Africa, the footwear segment alone commands a value exceeding R50 billion and continues to see steady expansion. Particularly notable is the surge in sales within the South African sneaker market, outpacing other footwear categories. This trend has prompted numerous brands to enter the fray, presenting consumers with abundant choices but also fostering intense competition among sneaker manufacturers. To stay competitive, these manufacturers consistently innovate by developing enhanced sneaker models and integrating cutting-edge technologies into their production processes. The study aimed to identify the determinants influencing the purchasing intentions of Generation Y consumers regarding sneakers. A survey, administered via self-report questionnaires, gathered data from a convenience sample of 400 Generation Y consumers aged 18 to 24. These individuals were selected from two public Higher Education Institutions located in Gauteng, South Africa. Data analysis encompassed various methods including reliability and construct validity assessment, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, collinearity diagnostics, regression analysis, and independent samples t-tests. Findings reveal that brand image, the desire for uniqueness, and product features significantly and positively impact the purchasing intentions of Generation Y consumers concerning sneakers. Conversely, the study indicates that price exerts an insignificant influence on the purchasing intentions of Generation Y consumers regarding sneakers. In addition, the findings suggest that males tend to place greater importance on brand image when making sneaker purchases compared to their female counterparts. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the nuanced preferences and behaviors of Generation Y consumers in the sneaker market and adapting business strategies accordingly to capitalize on opportunities for growth and differentiation
Perspectives of practitioners on support for caregivers of children with intellectual disability
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Health Sciences, Quality In Nursing and Midwifery (NuMiQ)-- Potchefstroom CampusBackground: Children with profound intellectual disabilities are unable to do anything for themselves and require full-time care in healthcare facilities. While caring for children, secondary caregivers become overwhelmed. Coupled with little or no support, the overwhelming work affects their psychological, social and financial well-being. Mental healthcare practitioners have perspectives on conditions under which secondary caregivers work and how can they be supported. Little is known about such perspectives.
Objectives: This study aims to explore and describe the perspectives of mental healthcare practitioners regarding the conditions under which secondary caregivers of children with profound intellectual disabilities work and how can they be supported.
Method: A qualitative-exploratory-descriptive and contextual research design was adopted using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. This study was conducted in Gauteng province. Semi-structured individual interviews were performed to collect data. Content data analysis and ATLAS.ti were used to analyse the data.
Results: Knowledge and skills development, stress reduction, resources and motivation were themes that emerged.
Conclusion: This study explored and described the perspectives of mental healthcare practitioners regarding the conditions under which secondary caregivers of children with profound intellectual disabilities work and how can they be supported. If implemented, perspectives can improve the holistic well-being of secondary caregivers.Contribution: This study broadened an understanding of how secondary caregivers can be supported. Future researchers can use study results to develop programmes, intervention strategies and frameworks to support secondary caregivers.Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Mokgaola for co-coding transcripts, Mr. Sibanda for professional editing, the participants of the study, and the authors of articles used. This article is partially based on the corresponding author’s thesis entitled ‘A support programme for caregivers of children diagnosed with intellectual disabilities in the Gauteng province, South Africa’ towards the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences in the Department of Nursing Sciences, North-West University, South Africa, on 02 November 2022, with supervisors Prof. Leepile A. Sehularo and Prof. Daleen M. Koen