The breeding biology and the annual cycle of the Red Bishop Euplectes orix was studied over a two year period in Natal. Some comparative data were also gathered for the related species the Red-shouldered Widow E. axillaris and the Red-collared Widow E. ardens, and additional data from a ringer in Rhodesia have been analysed. The breeding season of these polygynous ploceids coincides with the summer rainy season, and the amount of breeding activity in the Red Bishop appeared to be correlated with the amount of rain during the previous year. Breeding success at the colony studied was low; predation was the major cause of nest failure. In all three species the entire population, including the juveniles, undergoes a complete moult at the end of the breeding season. There is some evidence that the birds may make local movements during the winter dry season. These species are sexually dimorphic, the males being larger than the females. The population sex ratio was Significantly biased in favour of males in the Red Bishop and the Red-shouldered Widow but not in the Red-collared Widow. However, about half the male birds are subadults which do not breed, so that there is an excess of females in the breeding population. Adult males undergo a partial moult at the start of the breeding season and acquire a distinctive nuptial plumage. This is shed again at the post-nuptial moult, and in eclipse plumage they resemble the females. There is a similar pattern of weight change in all three species, with peaks early in the breeding season and again during the moult. The lowest annual weights are recorded during the dry season. The mortality rate of the Red Bishop is not high for a small passerine. The findings of this study are compared with the available information on other members of the genus, and discussed in relation to the evolution of polygyny in the Euplectes species. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1977.

Master of Science - Archaeology / The identification and analysis of seeds (including fruits and nuts) from second millennium AD deposits at Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, constitute the first in-depth archaeobotanical study of seeds in South Africa. The study highlights problems in the reconstruction of past vegetation and climatic variables from seed data. The Sibudu seed assemblage produced no evidence to suggest vegetation change in the Sibudu area during the last 1000 years. Either it is not possible to identify short-term fluctuations in indigenous vegetation from seed data, or the evidence of vegetation change has been masked by the influence of the perennial Tongati River, depositional history, differential preservation and recovery, and identification difficulties. Actualistic studies of seeds on the cave floor, the first of such studies in South Africa, indicated a range of non-human agents of seed accumulation and post-depositional redistribution. Definitive statements about people/plant relationships are problematic because of the number of agents of seed accumulation.

O autor se propõe a medir o tempo que decorre entre à inscrição e a primeira consulta médica de gestantes que curam os centros de saúde para assistência pré-natal. O propósito do estudo é dar subsídios para a identificação de instrumentos de medida da qualidade da assistência prestada a gestantes por instituições de saúde pública. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidas algumas ações básicas. Considerando a medida desse tempo, um evento sem significação quando estudado isoladamente, o autor se propos testar a hipótese de haver alguma correlação entre aquele tempo e outros eventos administrativos. O autor fez as seguintes verificações: - o tempo de espera apresenta algumas variações,segundo a região onde se localizam os centros de saúde, sendo maior em duas das focalizadas; - segundo a classificação dos centros de saúde: a variação é significativamente maior nos centros de saúde de tipo mais complexo, isto é, no tipo I, onde o atendimento é igualmente intensificado; - segundo a cobertura: foi verificado que o tempo de espera tende a crescer nas áreas onde a cobertura é maior. Quanto à idade da gestação não houve variação sob essa rubrica. O autor concluiu que a medida de tempo de espera para a primeira consulta médica de gestantes em centros de saúde pode indicar um problema de atendimento quando sua grandeza, ultrapassando o período considerado parâmetro de normalidade - O à 7 dias - estaria ligado a: cobertura aquém da meta esperada, demanda excessiva, deficiência quantitativa e/ou qualitativa da hora/instrumento responsável pela consulta e, especialmente, quando a demora se relacionasse também com inscrições feitas a partir do segundo trimestre da gestação. / The author\'s purpose is to measure the time lag between the registration on the clinic and the prenatal first visit by the pregnant woman. The study\'s purpose is to provide subsidies for the identification of quality standars in relation to the care provided to the future mothers by the public health institutions. For this purpose some basic steps were developed. Considering this time lag as non significant by itself, theauthor\'s purpose isto show the correlation between it and other administrative events, as well. The author made the folowing verifications: - the vaiting time according to the region on where the centers are located is greater, as it happened in two of the observed Regions; - in relation to the classification of the health center, the variation is significant: the lag is larger in the more complex type of heal th centers where the assistance is intensified; - according to the coverage it was verified that the waiting time increases in the areas where the coverage is larger; - as related to the age of pregnancy, there was no variation on waiting time. Considering the time lag by itself the conclusion is that the too small intervals observed are not significant because of its correlation with a too small coverage score observed all over the health centers. The author concludes that the waiting time for the pregnant woman first visit to prenatal clinic can indicate a problem at assistance when it is longer than the standard time lag -O to 7 days; when it is conected to a coverage too much behind or too much beyond objective expectations; an excessive demand; a quantitative or qualitative deficiency in instrument productivity and, specialy, when the delay was related also to the registrations starting at the second trimester ofpregnancy.

O autor se propõe a medir o tempo que decorre entre à inscrição e a primeira consulta médica de gestantes que curam os centros de saúde para assistência pré-natal. O propósito do estudo é dar subsídios para a identificação de instrumentos de medida da qualidade da assistência prestada a gestantes por instituições de saúde pública. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidas algumas ações básicas. Considerando a medida desse tempo, um evento sem significação quando estudado isoladamente, o autor se propos testar a hipótese de haver alguma correlação entre aquele tempo e outros eventos administrativos. O autor fez as seguintes verificações: - o tempo de espera apresenta algumas variações,segundo a região onde se localizam os centros de saúde, sendo maior em duas das focalizadas; - segundo a classificação dos centros de saúde: a variação é significativamente maior nos centros de saúde de tipo mais complexo, isto é, no tipo I, onde o atendimento é igualmente intensificado; - segundo a cobertura: foi verificado que o tempo de espera tende a crescer nas áreas onde a cobertura é maior. Quanto à idade da gestação não houve variação sob essa rubrica. O autor concluiu que a medida de tempo de espera para a primeira consulta médica de gestantes em centros de saúde pode indicar um problema de atendimento quando sua grandeza, ultrapassando o período considerado parâmetro de normalidade - O à 7 dias - estaria ligado a: cobertura aquém da meta esperada, demanda excessiva, deficiência quantitativa e/ou qualitativa da hora/instrumento responsável pela consulta e, especialmente, quando a demora se relacionasse também com inscrições feitas a partir do segundo trimestre da gestação. / The author\'s purpose is to measure the time lag between the registration on the clinic and the prenatal first visit by the pregnant woman. The study\'s purpose is to provide subsidies for the identification of quality standars in relation to the care provided to the future mothers by the public health institutions. For this purpose some basic steps were developed. Considering this time lag as non significant by itself, theauthor\'s purpose isto show the correlation between it and other administrative events, as well. The author made the folowing verifications: - the vaiting time according to the region on where the centers are located is greater, as it happened in two of the observed Regions; - in relation to the classification of the health center, the variation is significant: the lag is larger in the more complex type of heal th centers where the assistance is intensified; - according to the coverage it was verified that the waiting time increases in the areas where the coverage is larger; - as related to the age of pregnancy, there was no variation on waiting time. Considering the time lag by itself the conclusion is that the too small intervals observed are not significant because of its correlation with a too small coverage score observed all over the health centers. The author concludes that the waiting time for the pregnant woman first visit to prenatal clinic can indicate a problem at assistance when it is longer than the standard time lag -O to 7 days; when it is conected to a coverage too much behind or too much beyond objective expectations; an excessive demand; a quantitative or qualitative deficiency in instrument productivity and, specialy, when the delay was related also to the registrations starting at the second trimester ofpregnancy.

The poor school performance among black children in South Africa is best understood by focussing on the generative mechanisms which underlie performance. This research was undertaken within Pascual-Leone's neo-Piagetian Theory of Constructive Operators, which models cognitive functioning as a bilevel system of content-specific schemes and situation-free silent operators. Of the seven silent operators posited, Pascual-Leone is able to distinguish cognitive competence, or mental capacity (structural M, or Ms), from learning (L structuring) which is dependent upon environment. The M-construct is a reserve of mental attentional energy which can be applied to task-relevant schemes to boost their activation weights. The Compound Stimulus Visual Information (CSVI) task was used to distinguish the amount of M-power subjects employed in a given task (functional M, or Mf ), as well as the efficiency with which they used this Mf. Children from the black township of lndaleni, outside Richmond, Natal, South Africa, were selected. Thirty subjects in each of four age groups, seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-year-olds, were tested. The Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT) and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) test were administered in groups. Two versions of the CSVI were given: the Free Response (CSVI-FR) and the Tachistoscopic version. The latter was analysed in terms of first look (CSVI-1STL), which gives an estimate of Mf, and repeated looks (CSVI-TACH) which estimates the number of attending acts made over the task. The CEFT was found not to distinguish cognitive style in the sample. As the sample was of low socioeconomic status and rural, it was argued that the subjects were predominantly field dependent.Results were analysed for the total sample as one FD group. Results showed eleven- and thirteen-year-old children's arousal executives were increasingly poor (i.e., the eleven-year-olds brought one unit less than their available M to the task.). Performance on the RSPM showed a dramatic decline in percentile rank with age, which confirmed these increasingly poor arousal executives. This concurs with a regular cross-cultural Piagetian finding which shows no formal operational thinking in certain cultures. All subjects evidenced poor temporal executives (i.e., made fewer attending acts than predicted in task analyses). In the CSVI-FR analysis It was shown that children employed more efficient temporal executives as the stimulus became more complex, but their maximum performance still did not reach the predicted level. The results confirm patterns found among children from other disadvantaged environments. Proposals are made for further research to isolate the factors involved in the poor arousal executive strength of the present sample, which conflicts with a previous finding that Zulu-speaking children employ their full Ms.The findings are related to the poor educational environment of the children and suggestions are made for improving school performance by encouraging active problem solving. This would focus first on maximising M arousal, afterwhich temporal executives may be improved. Further, a warning is made to those who see training as a useful method to improve performance, for this does not maximise arousal and temporal executives within the child, but rather reduces the demand of the task. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

The Natal/KwaZulu Health Services Liaison Committee (HSLC) has been established to co-ordinate health care delivery in Natal and KwaZulu. This body has defined eight geographical Health Planning SubRegions (HPSRs) (Annexure E) of which each is a unit for planning and prioritising health service delivery in respect of its resident population. The HSLC considered that a study of inpatient catchment populations of hospitals under the control of the statutory Health Authorities would provide information which was essential to the planning processes of those authorities. The Department of Community Health was requested by the HSLC to undertake this study. A previous study, co-ordinated by the Department of Community Health (September 1987), dealt with "Outpatient Catchment Populations of Hospitals and Clinics in Natal and KwaZulu" (E DADA). No previous similar study on inpatients has been undertaken in South Africa. The expansion and improvement of basic services - particularly health care, water supply and basic education - should be perceived as essential elements in a strategy designed to enable all residents of a region to meet basic human needs and enjoy a minimum standard of living. Thus increased efforts have to be made to utilise health care resources effectively and efficiently and to plan future facilities carefully with regard to accessibility and appropriateness . This will require careful and objective management by all Authorities responsible for delivering health care to the people of Natal and KwaZulu. Accurately predicting the utilisation of hospital inpatient facilities is critical to efficient resource allocation in Health Services management. Catchment population studies and cross boundary flow characteristics provide valuable information on the utilisation of available facilities. This information is of value in the development of existing health services and the planning of additional health facilities with regard to size, situation and service type. Studies in other areas on utilisation of health service facilities, suggest that distance strongly influences hospital choice in both rural and metropolitan areas (Inquiry 1984 21(1) : 84-95) and this could explain some of the findings of this study with regard to cross boundary flow between Magisterial districts and HPSRs. For the efficient planning of resources, particularly with regard to situation and size, knowledge of the population size and demographic composition are important, as is a knowledge of the profile of disease in a community. The objectives of this study are directed to making available this information to each of the health authorities responsible for health care delivery and thus, to facilitate the management process. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

The study scientifically and empirically evaluates the social and economic impact of ecotourism, as well as its relationship with the tourism policy. The primary focus is on the displacement of communities, the effect it brought to cultural needs of the communities as well as an escalating poverty rate. The South African tourism policy is the primary document underlying the development and promotion of tourism in the country for sustainable economic development. Supporting this is the South African constitution where it promotes the protection of the environment for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures that: prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development. The research then looks at how the lives of the affected communities are incorporated into these objectives without affecting social and cultural lives of the people. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2000.

Not much is known about young fathers in South Africa; as a result, there is a lack of literature that focuses on young fathers and fatherhood in South Africa. However, there is a growing body of international literature about young fathers and their perceptions of fatherhood, even though this is mostly concentrated in the global north, especially the United States. The overall aim of the study was to explore the perspectives and experiences of early fatherhood among 'Black' university students in Durban. This was done by engaging young black men that are fathers. A qualitative approach was adopted in order to give the respondents freedom to discuss their experiences at length. The sample consisted of seven respondents that are Black, fulltime students and aged 18-25. Young fathers who are 'Black' were chosen purposefully because the statistics show that the fet1ility rate of young Black people is significantly high when compared to young people of other race groups in South Africa. This study found that all the young fathers that participated in this study had not intended to have children, and were therefore not ready to become fathers when their partners told them that they were pregnant. Furthermore, it was found that all the young fathers that pa11icipated in this study did not live with their children. Instead, the children lived with their mothers. There were various reasons given for this arrangement, but the most dominant one was that it was because the young fathers had not paid damages to their partners' families, as cultural practices dictate, for having impregnated them. Most young fathers that participated in this study are no longer intimately involved with the mothers of their children. However, they are on good terms with them and they have managed to maintain civil relationships with them in order to have access to their children. This study found that modem contraceptive knowledge is high amongst young fathers, although the usage is inconsistent. Finally, this study found that young fathers equate fatherhood to responsibility, providing financially, giving emotional support, and spending quality time with their children. However, there was a feeling of inadequacy and dissatisfaction amongst young fathers because of hindrances that prevent them from executing their roles of fatherhood effectively. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Fertility among young people has increased globally and is a major concern, particularly in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is a region that is greatly affected by poverty; HIV/AIDS and an increasing population. Young people are engaging in unprotected sex and this not only increases their risk of having an unplanned pregnancy, but also increases the risk of them contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. In Southern Africa, pregnancy rates among young people are high even though total fertility rates have declined. Many interventions have been implemented to directly address this issue; however, it is perplexing as to why pregnancy rates among young people are so high. Studies have indicated that there are many factors that influence unplanned pregnancy rates among young people. The aim of this dissertation is to understand the reasons for high fertility rates among young people in South Africa. This study draws on qualitative methodology using in-depth interviews with 20 female students at a tertiary institution in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Students interviewed presented a number of reasons for the high levels of pregnancy among young people. The study findings highlighted that young women have knowledge of contraception and are aware of the importance of contraception in preventing an unplanned pregnancy; however, contraception is being practiced inconsistently and incorrectly. Students are more afraid of the risk of an unplanned pregnancy than HIV/AIDS. Poor interpersonal relations with health service providers were perceived as a common barrier preventing young women from accessing contraception at the local clinics. Furthermore, the interviews suggest that peers exert an enormous influence over young people. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.