1,720,978 research outputs found
Evaluation of the Soul City adult education training programme in HIV/AIDS
No full textNaicker, Nisha. student no: 8900519E. MMed thesis, Public Health Medicine, 2006.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Soul City is a non-governmental organisation that runs a HIV/AIDS Adult Education Training
Programme. The training involves fourteen partner organisations. The training programme
uses the Soul City HIV/AIDS materials to train master trainers, who then train others
(community trainees) to use the materials (A cascade model of training).
Objectives of the study
The study evaluated whether the training programme has met its objectives, the effectiveness
of the training cascade model and the impact of the training.
Methodology
Study design: The study was divided into 2 sub – studies. The respondents were randomly and
proportionately selected per province. Questionnaires were developed and the participants
were interviewed telephonically or face to face.
Study Period: July- August 2004.
Study population: 1. Partner organisations managers and master trainers. Sample size of 30.
2. Community trainees. Sample size of 265.
Results
Master trainers: Impact of the training on the organisations and individuals was positive,
since it strengthened the organisations and improved knowledge and attitudes of participants.A few, mainly administrative problems were experienced by the partner organisations,
however these problems were subsequently dealt with.
Community Trainees: A large number of community trainees are being trained and they are
training others in the community. The majority of the training took place in urban areas.
Reaching rural areas was a challenge. 83% of participants had a very good knowledge and
understanding of HIV/AIDS related issues. Participants scored highly on assessment of their
behaviour as well. The majority of trainees had positive views of the training.
Conclusion
The study showed that the training programme had met its objectives and the cascade training
model used was effective. Thus the training process was effective in training individuals and
contributing to positive changes in the partner organisations and on an individual level
Association between Bone Lead Concentration and Aggression in Youth from a Sub-Cohort of the Birth to Twenty Cohort
No full textBackground: An association between blood-lead levels and aggression has been demonstrated in children and adolescent youth in South Africa. However, there are limited studies that have assessed aggression as an outcome for cumulative lead exposure using bone lead concentration. This study aims to assess the association between bone lead concentration and aggressive behaviour among a sample of youth in South Africa. Methods: Bone lead in 100 participants (53 males and 47 females) recruited and followed in the Birth to Twenty (BT20) Cohort were measured using 109 Cd-based, K-shell X-ray fluorescence (KXRF). The Buss–Perry Aggression questionnaire was used to measure aggressive behaviour. Linear regression models were fitted to determine the association between aggression score for physical, verbal, anger and hostility and bone lead, adjusting for known confounders. Results: A one-microgram-per-gram increase in bone lead was found to increase the score for all four scales of aggression, but significantly only for anger (β = 0.2 [95% CI 0.04–0.370]). Psychosocial factors such as a history of family violence and exposure to neighbourhood crime were significant predictors for aggression. Conclusions: The study provides a preliminary overview of the relationship between cumulative lead exposure and behavioural problems such as aggression. A larger sample, across exposed communities, may prove more definitive in further investigating the association between these two important public health factors and to maximize generalizability
Awareness levels amongst unskilled employees on their health and safety responsibilities
Full text linkAbstract: On a daily basis, there are 7,700 fatalities globally in the workplace. In order to protect the health and safety of workers in South Africa, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) was passed into law in 1993. Under this Act, health and safety responsibilities for employers are outlined in section 8 and all workers too must be aware of five employee health and safety responsibilities outlined in section 14. For many organisations, employees can broadly be categorised as skilled or unskilled workers. According to Investopedia (2017), unskilled workers have limited education and perform work without the need for specialised skills or experience. The aim of this study was to evaluate awareness levels amongst unskilled employees about their health and safety responsibilities which are outlined in section 14 of the OHS Act. The research was a cross-sectional study. Cleaners employed by outsourced contract cleaning companies were selected as the study sample. Data was collected through a questionnaire that was distributed to 118 cleaners employed by five contract cleaning companies operating in Johannesburg. The study established that cleaners were unskilled workers with high literacy but low skill levels and work experience. Cleaners were predominantly women and young workers aged between 20-30 years. Although cleaners had access, read and knew about the OHS Act, their level of awareness on health and safety responsibilities was low with cleaners largely aware of only one of the five responsibilities. Over 60% of cleaners received in-house training but 85% of them still wanted more training. Chemicals were the most common hazard but 67% of cleaners had never been injured. Common injuries that were encountered among cleaners were cuts, lacerations, sprains or strains and the frequency of injuries among them was almost equal among all age groups. The study also found no statistical association between awareness of the responsibilities to training, sex or level of education. It was recommended that employers make use of interactive training methodologies to improve skill levels and awareness of the five health and safety responsibilities. Employers must monitor and measure the impact of the training, identify and control occupational hazards and look after the safety of all workers (young and elderly).M.Tech. (Environmental Health
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Lead exposure and its impact on the health of adolescents: the birth to twenty cohort
Full text linkIntroduction
Lead exposure continues to be a major public health issue in South Africa, and other low and middle income countries. Environmental lead exposure has been associated with detrimental health effects in children. The aim of this thesis was to assess the prevalence of lead exposure and its association with various risk factors, its effects on puberty and socio-behavioural adjustment in adolescents.
Methods
The Birth to Twenty (Bt20) cohort study started in 1990, and is a long-term prospective follow-up study of children’s health and well-being. Mothers were recruited from antenatal clinics in the Johannesburg-Soweto metropolitan area between April and June 1990 (n=3273). Lead levels were analysed in samples of cord blood collected at birth (n=618) and whole venous blood collected at 13 years of age (n=1546). Data on selected child, maternal and household factors were collected using a structured questionnaire in the third trimester of pregnancy and at 13 years of age. Additional data on puberty (attainment of menarche and self-reported Tanner staging for breast and pubic development) and behaviour using the Youth Self Report was obtained at 13 years of age. Results
In the Bt20 cohort the mean blood lead level at birth was 5.9 μg/dl, and at 13 years of age it was 5.7 μg/dl. The majority of children had blood lead levels above 5.0 μg/dl (52% at birth and 56% at 13 years). At birth, being a teenage mother and having low educational status were strong predictors for elevated cord blood lead levels. Being a male child, having an elevated cord blood level, and lack of household ownership of a phone were significant risk factors for high blood lead levels at 13 years.
In 13 year old females with pubertal data (n= 682) the mean blood lead level was 4.9 μg/dl. Fifty percent had blood lead levels < 5.0 μg/dl, 49 % were ≥5.0 μg/dl and 1% was > 10.0 μg/dl. The average age of menarche was 12.7 years. At 13 years, 4% and 7% had reached Tanner stage 5 for pubic hair and breast development, respectively. Analyses showed that higher blood lead levels were significantly associated with delays in all measures of puberty (p <0.001).
In the 13 year old sample with data on the Youth Self Report (n= 1041), the geometric mean blood lead level was significantly (P value<0.001) higher in boys (6.0 μg/dl) compared to girls (4.5 μg/dl). The bivariate analyses stratified by gender showed that boys’ blood lead levels were significantly associated with four types of aggressive behaviour. There were no significant associations found in girls. A multivariate analysis was conducted in the sample of boys and after adjusting for socio-economic factors ”Attacking People” remained significantly associated with blood lead levels.
Conclusion
Significant associations found in the study point to the low socio-economic status of lead exposed children. These poor circumstances frequently persist into adolescence resulting in continued high lead levels. Higher blood lead levels were associated with a delay in the onset of puberty in girls, and with anti-social behaviour among boys in early adolescence. Lead exposure in low and middle countries is generally higher compared to high income countries, and thus the effects of high blood levels are much greater and have larger personal and public health significance
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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