The practice of science requires careful observation, experimentation and rational thinking accompanied by imaginative and intuitive insights to thrive in a mood of cutting edge exploration. South African Grade 9 Chemistry deals with established facts, usually devoid of artistic stimuli for capturing the imagination or awakening the intuitions of most learners. Many previous attempts to use the arts in the teaching of Chemistry are limited to the use of pictures, and less often, music and drama which are often superficial or even distracting from the real content. Most research into Science education has its focus on improving academic results with almost no research being conducted in the use of holistic, artistic devices to improve learner interest. Child-centred, holistic education indicates that the integration of rational logic with personal, intuitive knowing through story and the arts is a seed to sustained learner interest. This study used video-recorded experiments and a poem with holistic use of story, metaphor, rhythm and rhyme to characterise the behaviour of acids, bases and salts, to awaken greater learner interest. Class discussion centred on inquiry-based learning which challenged the validity of the characterisations used in the poem, completed the holistically integrated intervention. Changes in learner interest levels were determined by matched pairs in the pre-test and post-test. The research was undertaken with 222 learners from four schools in the greater Tshwane region. The results show that such holistically integrated devices, or stimuli, significantly increased learner interest through good engagement in the lesson as well as an improved perception of their grasp of the content, feelings towards Chemistry and relevance of Chemistry for their lives. As a first-of-its-kind research, further research in the use of appropriate holistic, artistic devices in Science education is recommended. Research into the longer-term use of such devices as well as the effects on learner academic results should be tested. This research indicates that teachers should consider providing a greater context and characterisation, with a broader range of stimuli, when presenting Chemistry to Grade 9 learners to allow them to relate to the experimental and academic content in a more imaginative, intuitive and personally meaningful way. The presentation of this dissertation will follow the courses of a dinner feast in the hope that the reader will be nourished holistically on multiple levels. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

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Visual perception theory distinguishes between two distinct levels of object processing: holistic, based on global shape, and configural, based on local features and/or component parts. Empirical evidence suggests that different cortical regions may support these levels; holistic processing correlates with activation in the lateral occipital-temporal cortex (LOC), whereas configural processes correspond to activation in the parietal lobe, particularly the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). This study combined theories of visual part structure with neuroimaging methods to investigate the relative contribution of holistic and configural processing in an ecologically valid object recognition task. Rather than rely on stimuli specifically designed to evoke holistic or configural processing, this study used photographs of objects selected without a priori assumptions concerning physical part structure. Twenty participants viewed objects at fixation while undergoing fMRI, followed by a behavioral object identification task involving the same objects presented in peripheral vision. Behavioral data were analyzed according to theories of visual crowding to yield an objective estimate of the number of parts perceived within each object. Neuroimaging results revealed increased activation for holistic objects containing fewer parts in the right parietal lobe and superior temporal gyrus and bilaterally in the fusiform gyrus, suggesting a relation between holistic processing areas and object perception. Configural objects with many parts elicited increased activation in the left angular gyrus. This study, to our knowledge, is the first to investigate the cortical visual regions involved when observers engage in holistic and configural processing as a natural part of visual recognition. / Master of Science

The central concern of this thesis is to discuss interpretations of learning in educational research. A point of departure is taken in core epistemological and ontological assumptions informing three major approaches to learning: behaviourism, cognitive constructivism and socioculturalism. It is argued that all three perspectives provide important insights into research on learning, but each alone runs the risk of reducing learning and interpretations of learning to single aspects. Specific attention is therefore given to Intentional Analysis, as it has been developed to account for sociocultural aspects that influence learning and individual cognition. It is argued that interpretations of learning processes face challenges, different kinds of holism, underdetermination and the complexity of intentionality, that need to be accounted for in order to make valid interpretations. Interpretation is therefore also discussed in light of philosopher Donald Davidson’s theories of knowledge and interpretation. It is suggested that his theories may provide aspects of an ontological and epistemological stance that can form the basis for interpretations of learning in educational research. A first brief sketch, referred to as ‘epistemic holism’, is thus drawn. The thesis also exemplifies how such a stance can inform empirical research. It provides a first formulation of research strategies – a so-called ‘interpretative holism’. The thesis discusses what such a stance may imply with regard to the nature and location of knowledge and the status of the learning situation. Ascribing meaning to observed behaviour, as it is described in this thesis, implies that an action is always an action under a specific description. Different descriptions may not be contradictory, but if we do not know the learner’s language use, we cannot know whether there is a difference in language or in beliefs. It is argued that the principle of charity and reference to saliency, that is, what appears as the figure for the learner, may help us decide. However, saliency does not only appear as a phenomenon in relation to physical objects and events, but also in the symbolic world, thus requires that the analysis extend beyond the mere transcription of an interview or the description of an observation. Hence, a conclusion to be drawn from this thesis is that the very question of what counts as data in the interpretation of complex learning processes is up for discussion. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Bensår är ett ökande problem i samhället, detta som följd av att vi blir allt äldre. Bensår är svåra att läka och det är vanligt att de återkommer. Kroniska bensår definieras som sår som inte läker inom sex veckor. De vanligaste orsakerna till bensår är venös insufficiens, arteriell insufficiens eller en bladning av dessa. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva personers upplevelser av att leva med kroniska bensår. Det här arbetet har utförts som en litteraturstudie, där sökning av artiklar har gjorts i två databaser CINAHL och PubMed. Efter sökning i databaserna har 16 artiklar valts ut och granskats. Analysen av artiklar har gjorts genom att plocka ut förekommande fenomen i texten och kategorisera dessa i huvudteman med underteman. Analysen resulterade i tre huvudteman: smärta, aktivitetsbegränsningar och lukt och vätskande sår. Det finns många olika faktorer som påverkar personernas upplevelser av att leva med bensår, där smärta, rörelseförmågan och lukt och vätska från såret har en central roll. Studien visar på att många personer upplever att deras problem inte tas på allvar. Det holistiska synsättet inom vården måste förbättras och mer hänsyn bör tas till personernas existentiella, psykiska, sociala och kroppsliga upplevelser.

Sammanfattning Bakgrund: Orsakerna till att prostatacancer uppstår är i dagsläget inte fastställt, men ärftlighet har visat sig ha en betydelse. Prostatacancer är den vanligaste typen av cancer i världen bland män, där patienterna drabbas av såväl fysiska som psykiska besvär vilket har en påverkan på individernas sexuella hälsa. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva patienters upplevelser av sexuell hälsa vid prostatacancer.  Metod: En litteraturöversikt baserad på artiklar med kvalitativa data användes. Resultat: Resultatet redovisade tre huvudkategorier som ger en insyn i individernas upplevelse av sexuell hälsa: Att förlora en del av sin identitet, Upplevd påverkan på relationer samt Att kunna anpassa sin livssituation. Det var främst den försämrade förmågan till erektion som påverkade individernas identitet, deras relationer och skapade ett behov av anpassning till den nya situationen. Slutsats: Patienter som lever med prostatacancer upplever en försämrad sexuell hälsa till följd av sin sjukdom. Det resulterar i konsekvenser där patienterna drabbas fysiskt, psykiskt, och socialt, vilket leder till svåra utmaningar för individerna. Litteraturöversikten kan bidra till att ge vårdpersonal en ökad insikt i hur patienterna upplever sin situation, vilket kan resultera i att patienterna får en bättre och mer individanpassad vård. / Summary Background: The causes why the prostate cancer occurring are currently not determined, but heredity has been shown to be of importance. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world among men, where the patients suffer from physical and mental illness which affect the sexual health of individuals. Purpose: The purpose was to describe patients' experiences of sexual health in prostate cancer. Method: A literature review based on qualitative data was used. Result: The result presented three main categories that provide an insight into the individual's perception of sexual health: Losing a part of one's identity, Experienced effect on relationships, and Being able to adjust one's life. It was primarily the impaired ability of erection that affected the individual’s identity, their relationships and created a need for adaption to the new situation. Conclusion: Patients living with prostate cancer experience impaired sexual health due to their illness. This results in consequences where patients suffer physically, mentally, and socially, leading to difficult challenges for the individuals. This literature review can provide healthcare professionals with an increased insight into how patients experience their situation, which can result in patients getting a better and more individualized care.

Bakgrund: Livmoderhalscancer är en av världens vanligaste cancerform hos kvinnor. Det finns olika behandlingsmetoder beroende på kvinnans cancerstadium och hälsotillstånd. Vid samtliga behandlingar uppkommer vanligen biverkningar av olika  karaktär, som påverkar kvinnorna på olika sätt. Sjuksköterskan har som ansvar att informera och stötta kvinnor som drabbats av livmoderhalscancer och arbeta utifrån ett holistiskt förhållningssätt. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kvinnors upplevelse av behandling mot livmoderhalscancer. Metod: En litteraturöversikt gjord med kvalitativ och induktiv ansats baserad på tolv artiklar med kvalitativ data användes. Artikelsökningen gjordes i Medline, Cinahl, samt Psycinfo. Resultat: Resultatet redovisade två kategorier med tillhörande sex subkategorier. Kategorierna var: Upplevelse av behandlingens inverkan på kropp och själ, samt det psykosociala behovet. Biverkningar som uppkom efter behandling yttrades i både på fysisk, psykisk och social karaktär och ledde till omfattande utmaningar för kvinnor att hantera. Kvinnor upplevde behov av olika typer av stöd och att samtliga förändringar påverkade dem själva och sin relation med omgivningen både positivt och negativt. Slutsatser: Kvinnor som genomgått behandling mot livmoderhalscancer upplevde ett försämrat hälsotillstånd. Litteraturöversikten hoppas ge sjukvårdspersonal ökad kunskap i hur de ska bemöta och stötta kvinnor med livmoderhalscancer, samt främja vårdförloppet för kvinnorna och dess närstående. / Background: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world for women. In all treatments side effects can occur, which affect women in different ways. The nurse is responsible for informing and supporting women affected by cervical cancer and work from a holistic perspective. Aim: The purpose was to describe women's experience of treatment for cervical cancer. Method: A literature review made with a qualitative and inductive approach based on twelve articles with qualitative data were used. The article search was done in Medline, Cinahl, and Psycinfo. Results: The result presented two categories with six subcategories. The categories were: The experience of the treatment's effect on body and soul, and the psychosocial needs. Side effects that arose affected both physical, mental and social levels. Conclusion: Women who have gone through treatment for cervical cancer experienced an deteriorated health condition as a result of treatments. The literature review hopes to give healthcare professionals an insight into how to respond to and support women with cervical cancer and promote the care process for the relatives and the woman.

This dissertation explores the relationship between mental properties and physicalism to confront the apparent inconsistency between mental realism and the tenets of physicalism. As I see it, the major obstacle to fully integrating mental properties into physicalism is the feasibility of downward mental causation. Specifically, stringent physicalists find it contradictory to maintain that the mind can affect the body without contradicting the tenets of physicalism. This inconsistency claim is most notably addressed in the Causal Exclusion Argument. Though I am not personally committed to physicalism as an absolute worldview, I respect its prevalence and the reasons for its dominance. Rather than reject physicalism, I approach the puzzle with epistemological humility and attempt to work within the scope of physicalism. This exploration involves critically examining physicalism’s leading mental-physical relationships, focusing on emergence as a plausible means to reconcile mental and physical properties without undermining either. Ultimately, I propose a modified form of physicalism that maintains its metaphysical and epistemological theses but in a milder form that is more conducive to emergent mental phenomena and the aspects of reality that are nonlinear and indeterminate. Guided by the work of Jaegwon Kim and Gerald Vision, this dissertation moves beyond their ideas, challenging reductionist perspectives within physicalism. The key contribution is the introduction of Dynamically Stable Causal Holism (or DSC Holism in brief), which represents a significant departure from traditional reductionist approaches, promoting a more holistic understanding of physicalism. Through nonlinear emergence and DSC Holism, I confront the Causal Exclusion Argument. A secondary original contribution is my approach to these puzzles. I integrate and synthesize concepts from the philosophy of science and special sciences to offer a fresh perspective on physically compatible mental realism and downward causation. / Philosophy

The global community faces ecological problems with the natural environment and cultural impediments to solving them. Natural systems are constantly changing and so are cultural practices. Humans need to address both: the interaction between those dynamic systems, the natural and cultural, because what happens in one system changes things in the other. The changes to the ecosystems are rapid and sometimes irreversible while dealing with them has been inadequate. Environmental movements, including deep ecology, have been at the forefront of the efforts to engage the public, various groups, politicians, and world governments to address environmental problems on a coordinated large scale, but their efforts have not produced substantive results. Cultural, ideological, and other reasons provide some insights into the reasons why this has happened. They show that the ecological crisis is now at the point at which deep ecological principles offer a way out of the crisis more clearly, given that it offers a new, ecological worldview for humans to adopt. This worldview suggests there is inherent unity between the human and natural worlds based on the concept of interdependence. This paper attempts to show that such inherent unity exists and that humans need to use precaution because the risks are too great to ignore.

This thesis presents an environmental ethic based on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Chapter One uses Heidegger's conception of 'dwelling' as the basis for a satisfying account of the 'otherness' or alterity of nature. Chapter Two draws upon Heidegger's writings on 'the dif-ference', Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy and the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead to develop a 'dialectical' conception of holism which can accommodate both the account of alterity presented in Chapter One and an account of the intrinsic value of individual beings. Chapter Three frames this conception of environmental holism in terms of ethics. It is argued that Heidegger's ideal of 'releasement' can be thought of as an essential 'function' of humans, the exercise of which promotes human flourishing. Extending this Aristotelian line of reasoning, it is shown how one can draw upon Heidegger's philosophy to articulate a form of environmental virtue ethic. Chapter Four investigates the charge that Heidegger's later thought is quietistic, a general allegation which is analysed into four interrelated specific charges: 1) the accusation that Heidegger is advocating a passive withdrawal from the world; 2) Adorno's charge in Negative Dialectics that Heidegger's philosophy is inimical to critical thought; 3) the objection that Heidegger is unable to deal adequately with either interhuman relations or the relations between humans and nonhuman animals; and 4) the charge that Heidegger's later writings cannot be brought to bear upon practical environmental issues. In answer to this last objection, case studies are presented of two environmental issues: 1) the environmental impact of tourism; and 2) the practice of environmental restoration.