The influence supplementing the micro-elements selenium, zinc and copper during drought feeding on ewe lambs has been studied. Certain parameters of the immune-system were studied at different times during the trial. The accumulation of the elements in the different tissues was investigated with specific emphasis on the accumulation of selenium in blood and plasma. Blood samples were collected on days 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 30, 60 and 90 to determine the peculiar way in which the selenium levels rise in the whole blood and plasma. Sodium selenite was used as source for selenium, zinc oxide as source of zinc and copper sulphate as source of copper. These three groups of chemical compounds were dosed to two groups of S. A. Mutton Merino lambs (two times a day). A third group of sheep was given only the basic diet which consisted of Smutsvinger hay. Salt and water were given ad lib to all three groups. The supplemented groups (groups 1 and 2) received 1.6 or 3.2 mg selenium/animal/day, 48.1 or 96.2 mg zinc/animal/day and 5 or 10 mg copper/animal/day, respectively. The two supplemented groups showed a tendency to heavier body weights than the control group, but the differences were not significant (P > 0.05). This could mean that the supplemented groups were healthier than the control group. The creatine phosphokinase (CK) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities were significantly lower in the supplemented groups than in the control group (CK, P < 0.01 and AST, P < 0.05). This could mean the muscle cell membranes in the supplemented groups were better protected against degradation. There were a tendency for higher primary antibody production against bovine erythrocytes in supplemented groups than in the control group, but with no significant differences (P > 0.05). The selenium levels in tissues and blood (whole blood an plasma) were significantly higher in the supplemented groups than in the control group (P < 0.05). The selenium accumulation in the liver was exceptionally high, even higher than the selenium concentration in the kidneys, which is difficult to explain. Copper levels were significantly higher in group 2 than in the control group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the groups when superoxide dismutase activities were studied (P > 0.05). The conclusion could be drawn that it is necessary to supplement micro-elements which will contribute to the antioxidant status of the animal especially in times of food scarcity and elevated stress in the animals. The supplementation will have a positive economical influence on the production (growth, health and reproduction) of the animal. / Dissertation (MSc (Animal Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

This study sought to investigate how teachers (educators) included Environmental Education in their practice in the context of the new curricula (RNCS) in South Africa. The study goes further to find out how the policy and practice of EE can be understood and explained in some schools and what are the provisions of the new curriculum policy on Environmental Education i.e. what does the new Environmental Education curriculum policy says to teachers about: subject matter, teaching and teaching approaches and teachers conceptions and beliefs in South Africa. A qualitative research study was undertaken where three educators, an HOD and Subject advisor were observed in practice and interviewed. A major finding is that teachers (educators) have begun to prepare their lessons according to the new policy. There is evidence that the teachers are striving to include EE as principle in their daily classroom practice. There is also evidence that the teachers are grappling with the newly introduced approaches that encourage hands-on learning. Although the teachers’ practice seems to be changing in line with the environmental education policy, this study suggests that it is still influenced rather negatively by past experiences, beliefs, policy contradictions and overcrowding in the classrooms. / Dissertation (MEd (Environmental Education))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / MEd / unrestricted

The aim of this study was an examination of the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality in medical law, the causes of actions under which the medical practitioner can be find liable and the grounds of justification or defences and exceptions that the medical practitioner can rely on to rebut the unlawfulness of his or her conduct. The examination was conducted within the framework of the South African, Canadian and American legal systems and particular attention was paid to privacy in the mental health care setting. This analysis necessitated the need to start with an examination of the definitions and concepts of privacy and confidentiality and a discussion of the need and importance thereof in the doctor-patient relationship. This included a discussion of the ethical issues involved. The physician-patient privilege is also examined. In particular the development and protection of the concept of privacy through legislation and constitutional protection is analysed and examined. What is clear is that the right to privacy and confidentiality can never be absolute. The rights of others in society always need to be considered and therefore certain exceptions to maintain confidentiality are allowed, such as the duty to warn an endangered person, and legislation that requires the reporting of notifiable diseases. Likewise, in the modern health care there are many other people, that have a legitimate claim to information, be it for billing purposes, managed care, research purposes, quality assurance or workplace or fraud investigations to name but a few. What is important is that the minimum required information necessary for the purpose for which it is needed, must be given, and that the patient must be informed and give consent to the release of such information. There are also operational difficulties in the modern health care setting that make it difficult to maintain privacy, such as semiprivate rooms and caregiver stations within earshot of waiting rooms. The most important findings are that South Africa is actually in a better position to that of the USA and Canada, in the sense that there is no patchwork of law that protect the right to privacy. We have similar legislation either in place or in the pipeline and not such a confusing array of provincial and national legislation. What still needs to be put into place and what is suggested in the Protection of Personal Information Draft Bill, published by the SALRC, is the office of Information Protection Commissioner. What is also needed is a code of conduct for the health care professional, giving practical guidelines on how to protect health information. Common law privacy jurisprudence will continue to have application in the resolution of privacy disputes. However, in accordance with the principle of constitutional supremacy, a court must test a challenged conduct against all possible relevant provisions of the Bill of Rights, whether the applicant relies on them or not. Any conduct or law that is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights is invalid and the obligations proposed by it must be fulfilled. / Dissertation (LLM (Public Law))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Public Law / LLM / unrestricted

No abstract available / Thesis (PhD (Science of Regligion and Missiology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

The contribution of government, non-governmental organisations and the private sector towards rural development has surfaced in many forms during the different rural development experiences since the 1950s. The South African Government’s Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP) is characterised by a notable emphasis for intensified stakeholder participation in rural development. The ISRDP established certain principles that impact on the level of stakeholder mobilisation for the programme. This study aims to explore the level and nature of stakeholder engagement in the implementation of the ISRDP. The experiences by selected nodes (municipalities) on these stakeholder relationships are explored. The involvement of the three spheres of government, the private sector, the community, funders and other partners is also discussed. The results of the study indicate that stakeholder mobilisation for the ISRDP in the nodal municipalities has not reached its maximum level in terms of the integration of existing rural development projects, resource mobilisation, community participation, and communication. Arguments of why this is happening and recommendations to improve the situation are provided. / Dissertation (M Inst Agrar (Rural Development Planning))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

Tuberculosis has re-emerged as a global health threat today. Current tuberculosis diagnosis is too slow in general and unsensitive in HIV burdened populations. Exposure to mycobacterial antigens in a country with a high prevalence of tuberculosis leads to false positive test results. Serodiagnosis would have been ideal, but was hitherto not successful. Mycolic acid (MA) is the major lipid cell wall constituent of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of this disease. In this study an antibody response to the MA molecules are investigated as a possible surrogate marker for tuberculosis. In previous studies, IgG antibodies to MA in TB infected, HIV seronegative patients were detected in human sera, with promising results. In this study the ELISA results detecting anti-IgG antibodies to MA in TB and HIV co-infected patients showed a low sensitivity and specificity. The study, however, showed that antibodies to MA are prevalent in HIV seropositive patients. The presentation of MA on the CD1 molecule to T cells might explain why anti-MA antibodies are detected in HIV seropositive patients. The properties of anti-mycolic acid antibodies were investigated to explain the low sensitivities and specificities of the ELISA test. An ELISA was done comparing signals to MA and cholesterol as coating antigen. A degree of cross-reactivity of anti-MA antibodies to cholesterol was obtained. In using the IAsys biosensor it was shown that anti-MA antibodies were inhibited with MA and cholesterol as antigens in liposomes with cholesterol as the weaker antigen. An antibody response to MA might prove to be a good surrogate marker for tuberculosis when measured in an IAsys biosensor based serodiagnostic test, where the serodiagnosis does not depend on the detection of high affinity anti-MA antibodies only. / Dissertation (MSc (Biochemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Biochemistry / unrestricted

The bicyclic substrates 1-oxo-2,8-diaryl-2,5,8-triaza-1<font face="symbol">l</font face>5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.0]-octane 3 were studied before. The molecular rearrangement of the alcoholysis product of 3 (the eight-membered ring compound 1-oxo-1-ethoxy-2,8-diaryl-2,5,8-triaza-<font face="symbol">l</font face>5-phosphacyclooctane) to the five-membered ring isomer (the 1,3,2 <font face="symbol">l</font face>5-diazaphospholidine system) is reasonably well understood for the N,N’-diaryl substituted substrates. It was decided to expand the studies of the bicyclic system 3 to other derivatives with aliphatic substituents on the nitrogen atoms (R=PhCH2, Me, Et), as well as the thiophosphoryl and phosphine analogues of 3. Differences between the N-aryl and N-alkyl substrates were observed in the acid and base catalyzed solvolysis of the bicyclic substrate. The reactivity in the rearrangement of the solvolysis product, from an eight-membered ring to the five-membered ring isomer was also different. The N,N’-dialkyl substituted compounds rearranged much slower to the corresponding five-membered ring compounds than the N,N’-diaryl analogues. The thiophosphoryl analoque of 3a (R=Ph), 1-thio-2,8-diphenyl-2,5,8-triaza-1<font face="symbol">l</font>5–phosphabicyclo[3.3.0]octane 11a was prepared by reacting bis-(2-phenylamino-ethyl)amine with P(S)Cl3 in the presence of a base. The alcoholysis product of 11a, observed in 31P NMR (<font face="symbol">d</font>P 76), was the eight-membered ring compound 15. This compound then rearranged to the five-membered ring isomer 16 during GC-MS analysis. This rearrangement is analogous to the rearrangement observed for the corresponding phosphoryl derivatives. Both the thiophosphoryl bicyclic 11a and the phosphoryl bicyclic 3a compounds were detected in the mass spectrum of compound 15. This could be explained in terms of the thiono (P(S)OR) to thiolo (P(O)SR) rearrangement. The NMR spectra of the phosphoryl and thiophosporyl bicyclic compounds 3a and 11a proved to have distinct differences in the aliphatic region as far as coupling constants are concerned. From the crystal structures it was clear that the two halves (two five-membered rings) of 3a and 11a had remarkably different dihedral angles. The NMR data represented an average of the two rings, therefore they appear identical on the NMR-scale. Comparing the dihedral angles as determined from NMR data, by utilization of the Karplus equation, with the dihedral angles obtained from X-ray diffraction data was only approximate. There was very little correlation between the experimental and the calculated dihedral angles for compounds 3a and 11a. An average value of the dihedral angles, resulting from NMR data, was not in agreement with the crystal structures. The MM+ force field of HyperChem® was adapted to perform molecular mechanical calculations in an effort to enhance the conceptualization of the properties and the behaviour of these new heterocyclic compounds. The calculated energies of the eight-membered ring and five-membered ring isomers, for all the different derivatives, confirmed that the rearrangement is thermodynamically controlled. The five-membered ring isomer in each case had lower total strain energy than the eight-membered ring isomer. The thiono and thiolo isomers had comparable potential energies. The thiono isomer of the N-Benzyl derivative had a slightly lower potential energy than the thiolo isomer, for both the eight- and five-membered ring isomers. The calculated energies for both the thiono and the thiolo isomers suggested that the five-membered ring isomer was thermodynamically more stable than the eight-membered ring compound. / Thesis (PhD (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Physics / unrestricted

Crime in South Africa today has become a subject that has invaded our conversations, the way we move about our environments, our recreation, our driving habits, the way we build, plan our cities or plan our routes home at night. In short, crime has permeated our society so profoundly that we have almost begun to accept that all the above violations of our civil liberties, are simply part and parcel of life in South Africa. This got me thinking about whom these criminals were, where do they come from and how can we, as future architects, contribute to putting a stop to this cycle of civil abuse? I thought of the countless young offenders who, when committed to an institution, instead of coming out rehabilitated, return to crime as blossoming criminals. With these thoughts in mind, I chose a Youth Holding Prison for my thesis study. My main question is, how much can an architectural environment assist in the rehabilitation of socially dysfunctional people? Rehabilitation applies to criminals who were normal members of society before they snapped, committed a crime, were punished in prison whereupon they are released and return to society, and reformed. How often is this the case? Are we, contrary to this notion, not confronted with a scenario of criminals, who leave prison and re-enter society, unchanged by the prison environment and unable to interact normally with society, only to be labeled as habitual criminals? Here, the word rehabilitation does not apply. Here, we require healing. Can architecture help to heal? If so, we should apply these healing principles to those young, first-time offenders who still have a chance to change their values and alter their perceptions of life and their place in society, through education, new life experiences and above all, motivation. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Architecture / unrestricted

We are surrounded by three skins. The first being our own, the second the clothes we layer ourselves with, and the third the skin of the building. The initial purpose of this project was to explore the influence architecture has on other design disciplines, in particular fashion design. But it became evident that so many things other that their immediate environment inform fashion designers, that the pursuit of an architecture that inspires fashion is futile. Fashion transcends the spirit of the day. Instead of architecture influencing fashion design, architecture embodies fashion’s identity while fashion and architecture together facilitate an identity for the consumer and the place of consumption. Consumption is seen as a form of cultural production. A shift from production to consumption, and visa versa, has changed the focus of how buildings are used and experienced, and by extension, how and why buildings are erected. The primacy of the skeleton has given way to the primacy of the skin. For fashion houses, the skin of a building has become an essential medium for the promotion of their identity. The emphasis of the project thus shifts to the exploration of architecture as the identity giver to a site and its context, the client and the consumer. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Architecture / unrestricted

This book is a discourse about the impact that consumerism and globalism have on South African and global architecture. It is irrelevant whether the impact is negative or positive. Architecture has to deal with a reality that’s rooted in a context informed by market driven decisions. As the growth and expansion of cities are uncontrollable, architects become interveners, not masterplanners. The brief asked for a heliport and a boutique hotel (aptly named H²). The site for H²is next to a major regional shopping center, and a national highway. The building will be adaptable, and transformable to cater for future growth and needs; and no urban masterplanning was done, as the building intervenes rather than dictates. Much of the debate in this book revolves around the impact advertising has on our urban realm. The design of H² borrows from the principles and tactics employed by advertising companies to create desire in consumers. H² responds to the highway and to the consumer ‘cathedral’ next to it on a subconscious level, and like a advertisement, piece of music, or a film, aims to amplify the responses and emotions of visitors and passerby’s alike. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Architecture / unrestricted