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This chapter explores factors that enhance and constrain the adoption and sustainability of Information and Communication Technologies in Universities and higher institutions of learning in South Africa. This study examines pedagogical, socio-economic and epistemological aspects of the paradigm shift in higher education delivery in Africa. Adopting and sustaining ICTs for educational improvement is a multifaceted process. As a dynamic process, all the vital elements of technology adoption...

The most commonly used criteria for dementia diagnoses is the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IVTR (4th ed, 2000). They are culturally initialized, and so defined by peculiar landmarks of western countries and medical framework. However, general population may think differently, especially when belonging to non-western countries. Few studies focused on particularities of this perception, whereas many things could be learned from it, allowing medical profession to tackle the problem...

Abstract National and international research on history education and democracy addresses the potential role of first-hand accounts in building a better future by learning from the past. In South Africa, little systematic research has been done on how history teachers construct primary narratives in the history classroom and how this impacts on the interaction with the students. This article presents a micro case study of a history lesson in which both the teacher's positioning and her...

Higher level of antiretroviral adherence is associated with improved virological, immunological and clinical outcomes. Despite the availability of few studies in sub Saharan Africa the factors for poor adherence are diverse.To determine adherence factors for antiretroviral treatment in Hawassa University teaching hospital in southern Ethiopia.A cross sectional study was undertaken on total of 510 AIDS patients seen over one month period Data were collected using a structured questionnaire...

The authors use traumatic stress theory to develop an ecosystemic understanding of hegemony and systemic barriers to educational success for culturally diverse students. Scholarship on trauma and systemic oppression are applied to students' academic experiences, and recommendations for improving educational outcomes include assessing for and ameliorating trauma in educational settings. Los autores emplean teorías del estrés traumático para desarrollar un entendimiento ecosistemático de la...

This paper considers issues concerning the quality of education in Eritrea using the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report's (GMR) framework for quality education. Drawing on 2 years school-based professional experience in the country, the multiple factors affecting quality in schooling are discussed. The applicability of the GMR framework is then assessed. Given the recent militarisation of the Eritrean school system, it finds the framework seriously lacking, by failing to enable...

During August 2002, at a primary school in Kwa-Dukuza, KwaZulu-Natal, 27 children who had been well when they left their homes collapsed at school, displaying tremors and shivers throughout their bodies. Many of the children also presented with abdominal cramps and nausea. Almost all the children experienced a feeling of tightness in their chests as well as hyperventilation, which was then followed by fainting. This hysteria spread by line of sight (that is, other children seeing this also...

The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the challenges of information and communication technology (ICT) integration in a South African classroom setting. The main focus is on the concept of a digital divide, and how cultural complexity with special emphasis on language can affect the divide in schools that already have material access to ICT. The study is based on fieldwork in seventh-grade classes in four primary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The learners answered a...

Fog and dew constitute an important water source along the hyperarid and arid parts of the southern African west coast. In this region the annual amount of precipitation due to fog substantially exceeds water input of surface rainfall. As a consequence of these unique climate characteristics, many fog dependent species established along the southern African west coast. Furthermore, as the region’s ground water levels are receding and rainfall is rather unreliable, fog harvesting can be a...

Epidemiological and observational evidence suggests that waterpipe use is growing in popularity worldwide.The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of cigarette and water pipe tobacco use among pupils aged 13-17 years in the urban area of Sousse, Tunisia and to identify the factors which predict current cigarette and/or waterpipe smoking in this population.Across-sectional study was carried out on a representative sample of schoolchildren aged between 13 and 17 years in...

Continuing the commitment of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) to education and outreach, the IEEE 2009 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) conference in Cape Town, South Africa provided an opportunity for over 400 local high school students to engage in hand-son GPS training and remote sensing workshops. Mafeteng Schools Environment Network (MSEN) and the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organization (SHAWCO) worked with the University of Cape...

Introduction In this age of information and communication technology (ICT), the use of the Internet has become the norm. Developing countries like Nigeria are not exempted from this trend. The craving for the Internet stems from its central role in ICT with access to free online journals, magazines, and other information resources anytime and from anywhere for academic and research purposes (Kode and Kode, 2003). Nigerian university undergraduates are required to carry out research projects...

Since the very beginning of the human race, the Middle East served as a bridge between Africa–where our species first evolved–and the rest of the world. The passage over this bridge opened and closed with the global fluctuations of climate. The first glacial periods at the beginning of the Quaternary caused the greenhouse of equatorial Africa to become less hospitable, while making the desert belt of the Middle East more humid, green, and thus passable. Flint tools found along the shores of...

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

The problem of hypertension among African-Americans is one of the major areas of health disparities. The American Heart Association (2009) noted that the prevalence of hypertension among African-Americans is perhaps among the highest in the world and this is particularly so among African-American women (44.0%). The purpose of this study was to determine how therapeutic chair massage and patient teaching in diaphragmatic breathing affected African-American women's blood pressure, stress, and...

Although some gender activists and analysts question the efficacy of gender mainstreaming to take forward women's demands, the South African government has pursued the strategy within a number of government departments including the Department of Education. This article explores how the strategy is being implemented in one provincial education department. Using data generated in 2008–9 through case study methods that employed aspects of an ethnographic approach, a key finding was that both...

Abstract UBTromso Collaborative Programme for San Research and Capacity Building. 2009. ISBN 978 9912-0-862-6 (paperback), pp.208 (including appendices and photos)