The focus of this study is on pastoral counselling and mentorship in the South African context and how it can contribute to the improvement of parent-child relationships. The Practical Theological model of Osmer is used as a framework in which the study is conducted. It consists of the Descriptive-empirical, Interpretative, Normative and Pragmatic tasks (which, for the purpose of the study, are called methods of approximation). In the first chapter the emphasis is on the way in which the study will be conducted with the aim of obtaining positive outcomes. This is also addressed in Chapter 2 by means of empiric research. Interviews are conducted with 24 participants that consist of parents and children. The aim of this is to determine how many problems really occur within families in a South African context. Many problems in this regard have come to light. The third chapter is mainly dedicated to a literature study that discusses the effect of positive and negative outcomes through the application of Biblical principles and mentorship within families. The effect of negative or positive parenthood is discussed as well as the effect it has on the child in his/her development process. Parents can learn many lessons from this chapter so that their children won’t have to grow up with emotional anguish. In the fourth chapter the theological aspects are discussed and proof is given for the value of these aspects as addressed by theological experts. Moral values, pastoral models, the value of the Holy Spirit and how God is portrayed are discussed here. These principles also contribute to happier families. In the fifth chapter attempts are made to find summarising solutions for this study’s initial problem statement, research question and central theoretical argument. Various results and conclusions can be made to find answers to the different key terms. Problem identification and problem solving techniques are discussed. A typical counselling session is held on the basis of a pastoral phase model in order to provide clarity to the solution of the abovementioned problems. / PhD (Pastoral Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Background: Research on nursing practice has highlighted a relationship between non-nursing tasks (NNTs), nursing tasks left undone (NTLU), and internationally it was found that these factors have an effect on job satisfaction. Since the last study done on NNTs and NTLU in 1988, much has changed in South Africa`s health system. Current South African studies have revealed that decreased numbers of PNs in South Africa experience satisfaction. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between NNTs, NTLU and job satisfaction on both individual PN level and unit level in South Africa, and contributes to the international debate. Aim: To investigate the relationship between NNTs, NTLU and job satisfaction among professional nurses (PNs) in medical and surgical units in private and public hospitals in South Africa. Method: A cross-sectional survey design was used including 1166 PNs in 60 medical and surgical units in 55 private hospitals and seven national referral hospitals in South Africa who completed the survey. Measures: Relationships between NNTs, NTLU, job satisfaction and aspects of job satisfaction. Results: The three main NNTs performed were filling-in for non-nursing services (d=0.47), cleaning patient’s rooms and equipment (d=0.48) and obtaining supplies and equipment (d=0.64). Nationally more than 50% of PNs reported the following NTLU – comfort/talk with patients (62.2%), educating patients and family (57.9%) and develop or update nursing care plans/pathways (51.6%). PNs in private hospitals are more satisfied with their jobs than PNs in public hospitals. PNs were most dissatisfied with the opportunities for advancement (M = 2.60) and educational opportunities (M=2.64) aspects of job satisfaction. At unit level, NTLU positively correlated with three NNTs, and job satisfaction correlated mostly and negatively with NTLU. Conclusion: South African PNs perform many NNTs. However, the performance of NNTs does not influence their job satisfaction to the extent the NTLU does. Although PNs in this study indicated that NNTs do not have a significant influence on NTLU, it may reveal a greater issue, in that PNs have grown accustomed to performing NNTs as part of their workload. Clarifying professional nurses’ scope of practice and increased use of support services may provide PNs with more time to conduct nursing tasks which should improve job satisfaction. Recommendations for practice, education, policy/orientation programmes and research are made from the findings of this study. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The focus of this study is on pastoral counselling and mentorship in the South African context and how it can contribute to the improvement of parent-child relationships. The Practical Theological model of Osmer is used as a framework in which the study is conducted. It consists of the Descriptive-empirical, Interpretative, Normative and Pragmatic tasks (which, for the purpose of the study, are called methods of approximation). In the first chapter the emphasis is on the way in which the study will be conducted with the aim of obtaining positive outcomes. This is also addressed in Chapter 2 by means of empiric research. Interviews are conducted with 24 participants that consist of parents and children. The aim of this is to determine how many problems really occur within families in a South African context. Many problems in this regard have come to light. The third chapter is mainly dedicated to a literature study that discusses the effect of positive and negative outcomes through the application of Biblical principles and mentorship within families. The effect of negative or positive parenthood is discussed as well as the effect it has on the child in his/her development process. Parents can learn many lessons from this chapter so that their children won’t have to grow up with emotional anguish. In the fourth chapter the theological aspects are discussed and proof is given for the value of these aspects as addressed by theological experts. Moral values, pastoral models, the value of the Holy Spirit and how God is portrayed are discussed here. These principles also contribute to happier families. In the fifth chapter attempts are made to find summarising solutions for this study’s initial problem statement, research question and central theoretical argument. Various results and conclusions can be made to find answers to the different key terms. Problem identification and problem solving techniques are discussed. A typical counselling session is held on the basis of a pastoral phase model in order to provide clarity to the solution of the abovementioned problems. / PhD (Pastoral Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This research investigates how Islam is informing capitalism in Indonesia through an analysis of the Baitul Maal wat Tamwil (BMT) model of Islamic microfinance and how it operates as a local variant of the global phenomenon of microfinance. Using an ethnographic case study of BMT Solo, in Colomadu, Surakarta, Indonesia, this thesis examines the relationship value between Indonesia’s historical religious tensions and the influence of this form and practice of Islamic microfinance in Indonesia. This is a qualitative study for which original data was collected through field work conducted from August to November 2013. Qualitative methods and narratives were employed to ensure that the voices and stories of the participants, as they see the issues from their perspective, are heard. Field observations, event analysis and data from 14 semi-structured interviews reveal that: while global conventional microfinance aims to eradicate poverty by providing the poor with access to credit, BMT Solo does not issue loans to the poor but rather works to combat poverty through the baitul maal function. As the data demonstrate, the way in which BMT Solo administers their baitul maal function results in the exclusion of the poor non-Muslim community in Colomadu reinforcing already delicate religious tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Indonesia. The data also elucidate the three main reasons for which founders, managers, staff and customers became involved with BMT Solo. One pattern that can be identified from the analysis, is that generally, with a few exceptions, founders and managers were motivated by reasons of faith while staff primarily by reasons of accessibility and customers by both reasons of accessibility and diplomacy. Diplomatic reasoning refers to community diplomacy and the elements of social pressure and conformity which are often associated with maintaining peaceful and harmonious relations. The reasons of diplomacy bring new insights into how the few non-Muslim BMT Solo customers are using Islamic microfinance to diplomatically co-exist in a majority Muslim community and to manage delicate religious tensions to mitigate potential difficulties. / Graduate / 0318 / mlholden@uvic.ca

Studies have indicated that relapse is noted as a major problem facing mental health services both nationally and internationally whereby family members caring for mental health care users experience a serious burden. Factors commonly associated with relapse include poor adherence to treatment, substance abuse, co-morbid psychiatric illness, a co-morbid medical and or surgical condition, stressful life events and the treatment setting. Relapse prevention strategies have been identified and they include, empowering people with mental illness to recognize early warning signs of relapse in order to develop appropriate response plans as well as communication and understanding between the mentally ill person, their family, and specialist mental health system and community support services. The researcher was prompted by the problem of relapse faced by mental health services to explore and describe the strengths of families in assisting mental health care users to limit relapse and to formulate guidelines for psychiatric nurses to empower family members caring for mental health care users to limit relapse. A phenomenological design was used in this study and a purposive sampling technique was used to select participants who met the selection criteria. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 15 family members. All interviews were recorded with an audio recorder after participants gave consent. Data saturation was achieved after 13 participants were interviewed and further two interviews confirmed data saturation. Field notes were written immediately after each interview. Data analysis was done according to Tesch as quoted by Creswell (2007:187) and the researcher and co-analyzer reached consensus on the themes in a meeting. The findings of research resulted in four main categories namely, accepting the condition of a mentally ill family member, having faith in God, involving a mentally ill family member in daily activities and being aware of what aggravates the mentally ill family member. The conclusion that can be made is that “acceptance through education” assisted family members in developing a positive attitude and acceptance of their feelings as well as the condition of their mentally ill family members. A strong spiritual base provides family members with strength and hope in times of adversity and teaches them how to have healthy relationships within the family unit and with others. It is also evident that sharing activities, as the things that all members of the family do together, reinforce and strengthen their togetherness and that if family members can be aware of what aggravates mentally ill family members by communicating well with them, that can bring harmony in families and ultimately limit relapse. Recommendations in this research are made for nursing education, nursing research and psychiatric nursing practice with guidelines for psychiatric nurses to empower families caring for mentally ill family members to use their strengths and contribute to limiting relapse. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of this project is to discern possible patterns in the changes of epistemic frameworks and in the way in which factors cause or stimulate such changes. Article 1 illustrates forms of consensus between the views of various prominent 20th century philosophers of science on the characteristics and functions of pre-scientific frameworks in scientific activity. This is done by highlighting various helpful insights from the reformational tradition as a point of departure. Article 2 attempts to achieve more clarity on how changes in epistemic frameworks occur, whilst article 3 discerns the factors influencing framework change. Article 4 illustrates and evaluates the relationship between change and constancy in the viewpoints of various philosophers and scientists throughout history. The project suggests that change and constancy can be related to epistemic frameworks according to a pattern referring to the irreducibility of coherents where change and constancy exist in cohesion. As a consequence, change is never completely random or absolute. Although a broad variety of factors play a role in framework changes, a pattern can be discerned in the sense that some factors play a regulative role, so that change is dynamic but not arbitrary. / Thesis (PhD (Philosophy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Studies have indicated that relapse is noted as a major problem facing mental health services both nationally and internationally whereby family members caring for mental health care users experience a serious burden. Factors commonly associated with relapse include poor adherence to treatment, substance abuse, co-morbid psychiatric illness, a co-morbid medical and or surgical condition, stressful life events and the treatment setting. Relapse prevention strategies have been identified and they include, empowering people with mental illness to recognize early warning signs of relapse in order to develop appropriate response plans as well as communication and understanding between the mentally ill person, their family, and specialist mental health system and community support services. The researcher was prompted by the problem of relapse faced by mental health services to explore and describe the strengths of families in assisting mental health care users to limit relapse and to formulate guidelines for psychiatric nurses to empower family members caring for mental health care users to limit relapse. A phenomenological design was used in this study and a purposive sampling technique was used to select participants who met the selection criteria. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 15 family members. All interviews were recorded with an audio recorder after participants gave consent. Data saturation was achieved after 13 participants were interviewed and further two interviews confirmed data saturation. Field notes were written immediately after each interview. Data analysis was done according to Tesch as quoted by Creswell (2007:187) and the researcher and co-analyzer reached consensus on the themes in a meeting. The findings of research resulted in four main categories namely, accepting the condition of a mentally ill family member, having faith in God, involving a mentally ill family member in daily activities and being aware of what aggravates the mentally ill family member. The conclusion that can be made is that “acceptance through education” assisted family members in developing a positive attitude and acceptance of their feelings as well as the condition of their mentally ill family members. A strong spiritual base provides family members with strength and hope in times of adversity and teaches them how to have healthy relationships within the family unit and with others. It is also evident that sharing activities, as the things that all members of the family do together, reinforce and strengthen their togetherness and that if family members can be aware of what aggravates mentally ill family members by communicating well with them, that can bring harmony in families and ultimately limit relapse. Recommendations in this research are made for nursing education, nursing research and psychiatric nursing practice with guidelines for psychiatric nurses to empower families caring for mentally ill family members to use their strengths and contribute to limiting relapse. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of this project is to discern possible patterns in the changes of epistemic frameworks and in the way in which factors cause or stimulate such changes. Article 1 illustrates forms of consensus between the views of various prominent 20th century philosophers of science on the characteristics and functions of pre-scientific frameworks in scientific activity. This is done by highlighting various helpful insights from the reformational tradition as a point of departure. Article 2 attempts to achieve more clarity on how changes in epistemic frameworks occur, whilst article 3 discerns the factors influencing framework change. Article 4 illustrates and evaluates the relationship between change and constancy in the viewpoints of various philosophers and scientists throughout history. The project suggests that change and constancy can be related to epistemic frameworks according to a pattern referring to the irreducibility of coherents where change and constancy exist in cohesion. As a consequence, change is never completely random or absolute. Although a broad variety of factors play a role in framework changes, a pattern can be discerned in the sense that some factors play a regulative role, so that change is dynamic but not arbitrary. / Thesis (PhD (Philosophy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Thesis In the Light of Kabbalah: Jewish Mystique in Polish Literature in the Interwar Period deals with different models of reflection of Jewish religious and mystical tradition in the Polish interwar literature (on the example of three authors representing different ways of perceiving their own Jewish roots as well as the processing of themes based on the tradition of Jewish mysticism). Aleksander Wat, originally a futurist, was critical of the Jewish religious tradition - but still cannot his own "Jewishness" escape; prose writer Bruno Schulz offers an unique vision of cosmogony and eschatology reminiscent of - besides other things - selected concepts of Kabbalah; Bolesław Leśmianʼs relationship to this tradition is the looses, but on the other hand his method of working with motives which can interpreted in the context of the Jewish religious tradition is very original. Literary work of all three - as the heirs to the "people of the Book" - is marked by a specific relationship to language and the written word. In addition to this theme we deal with e.g. the Golem motive, the idea of the creation of the world or the idea of God. These analytical chapters are preceded by a theoretical and methodological introduction based on the traditions of literary hermeneutics, but also on selected concepts of...

Largely as a consequence of the ongoing obesity epidemic, research into adipose tissue biology has increased substantially in recent years. Worldwide, the number of people classed as overweight or obese is growing, and this represents a major public health concern. Adipose tissue is broadly divided into two types; white and brown. Whilst white adipose tissue (WAT) functions to store and mobilise triglycerides, brown adipose tissue burns chemical energy to generate heat. WAT is further divided into visceral “bad” fat and subcutaneous “good” fat depots, and it is an increase in the former that is linked to obesity-associated diseases. As well as adipocytes, several other cell types including haematopoietic and endothelial are found within adipose tissue, and comprise the stromal vascular fraction (SVF). Adipocyte precursor cells (APCs) also reside within the SVF and are essential for the maintenance and expansion of adipose tissue. The protein encoded by the Wilms’ tumour 1 (Wt1) gene is predominantly known to function as a transcription factor, but also has a role in post-transcriptional processing. Deletion of Wt1 in adult mice results in a considerable loss of fat tissue. Moreover, recent work has revealed that a proportion of the APCs from all visceral WAT depots express Wt1, therefore revealing heterogeneity within the APC population. Additionally, visceral WAT depots are encapsulated by a WT1 expressing mesothelial layer, which has its origins in the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM), and can give rise to mature adipocytes. Lineage tracing has demonstrated that a significant proportion of the mature adipocytes in all adult visceral WAT depots (but not subcutaneous) are derived from cells that express Wt1 in late gestation. These findings uncovered key ontogenetic differences between visceral and subcutaneous WAT and led us to ask whether Wt1 functions in visceral adipose tissue biology. Preliminary work has shown that adipocytes derived from Wt1 expressing (Wt1+) precursor cells have fewer, larger lipid droplets than those derived from non-Wt1 expressing (Wt1-) precursors. In this thesis, this heterogeneity is explored further using a Wt1GFP/+ knock-in mouse. When Wt1+ and Wt1- APCs are cultured separately, the Wt1+ population differentiate into adipocytes more readily. Moreover, the Wt1+ APCs are more proliferative than the Wt1-. Preliminary results also suggest that the Wt1+ APCs may secrete a factor(s) that causes the Wt1- APCs to exhibit improved adipogenic differentiation, a result that is supported by data from comparative transcriptomic analysis. Finally, the percentage of APCs decreases when mice are fed a high fat diet. Interestingly, this decrease is more pronounced for the Wt1+ population. Therefore, it appears that as well as exhibiting differing behaviours in vitro, the Wt1+ and Wt1- populations respond differently to physiologically relevant conditions in vivo. Whilst the LPM is a major source of visceral WAT, the origin of subcutaneous WAT is currently unknown. Here, the Prx1-Cre and Prx1-CreERT2 mouse lines are used to investigate this. It is shown that the majority of subcutaneous WAT adipocytes and APCs are labelled by Prx1-Cre, however this is not the case for most of the visceral WAT depots. The exception to this is the pericardial (heart fat) depot, in which approximately 70% of the adipocytes and 40% of the APCs are labelled. Moreover, a proportion of the Prx1-Cre labelled pericardial APCs also express Wt1, therefore suggesting additional heterogeneity. Preliminary results show that this heterogeneity may have functional consequences, at least in vitro. Additionally, lineage tracing studies suggest that the somatic LPM may be one source of subcutaneous WAT and pericardial visceral WAT Finally, it is shown that the conditional deletion of Wt1 in the Prx1-Cre lineage results in abnormal diaphragm development. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is severe birth defect, the etiology of which is not well understood. Here, a new model of CDH has been developed, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the defect in this model are investigated.