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How taboo are taboo words for girls?

- De Klerk, Vivian A

Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
Date: 1992
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6143 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011596
Description: In the past five years, there has been much interest in the question of whether women are really as concerned about politeness and status as they have been made out to be by such writers as Baroni and D'Urso (1984), Crosby and Nyquist (1977), Lakoff (1973), Spender (1980), and Trudgill (1972). Despite the commonly held perception that it is only males who bandy about derogatory and taboo words (Bailey 1985; Flexner 1975), Risch (1987) provided counterevidence based on data obtained in the United States. The results of the present study, based on data obtained in South Africa, strongly support her findings and challenge the assumption that women stick to standard speech, citing evidence that young females are familiar with, and use, a wide range of highly taboo/slang items themselves. In particular, attention is devoted to the question of pejorative words applicable to males and females, respectively, and the view that there are only a few pejorative terms commonly used to describe males (particularly by females) is challenged. (Women's language, politeness, linguistic taboo, stereotypes, slang, expletives, prestige forms).
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Date Issued: 1992

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Deriving narrow syntax through constraints on information structure : a parallel between linguistic models of displacement and database theory

- de Vos, Mark

Authors: de Vos, Mark
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6142 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011594
Description: This paper presents a research program for normalization-driven syntax. It takes the Minimalist research agenda as a starting point (Chomsky 1995. The Minimalist Program. MIT Press, Cambridge MA.) and explores the question of how the CI interface determines syntactic operations. The proposal provides specific content to the notion of bare output conditions and the nature of the CI interface. It does so by drawing on the tools provided by Relational Theory, a branch of set-theoretic mathematics, and Database Theory, a branch of computer science. It is demonstrated that core components of Narrow Syntax (phrase structure, selection and AGREE) are all definable in terms of Relational Theory. Then, it is shown that the process of relation optimization, or normalization, can derive chain formation. The article concludes with two speculations on the implementation of phases within a normalization-driven grammar and the implications of such a system for the learnability of the lexicon.
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Date Issued: 2008

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Resistance or tolerance: an examination of aphid (Sitobion yakini) phloem feeding on Betta and Betta-Dn wheat (Triticum aestivum)

- De Wet, L R, Botha, Christiaan E J

Authors: De Wet, L R , Botha, Christiaan E J
Date: 2007
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005945
Description: Engineering pest resistance into crops is important. However, the mechanisms of resistance are not clearly understood. In this study, we examined the effects of aphid feeding on Russian wheat aphid-resistant and -susceptible cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.); Betta-Dn and Betta, respectively, by the grass aphid, Sitobion yakini (Eastop). These cultivars were grown with or without aphid colonies. In each case, we examined the plants specifically for the formation of wound callose associated with the phloem, using aniline blue and fluorescence microscopy. We observed that aphid feeding stimulated the formation of wound callose in the susceptible cultivar, but that callose was comparatively reduced in the resistant cultivar of wheat. In a separate series of experiments, the xenobiotic, 5, 6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate was applied to attached sink leaves, distal to feeding aphids. When leaf segments were examined four hours after application, little evidence of phloem transport of the fluorescent cleavage product, 5, 6-carboxyfluorescein (5, 6-CF), was evident below known aphid-probed sieve tubes. Low levels or absence of 5, 6-CF indicates that either the aphids have successfully redirected sap to themselves, or that the phloem is no longer functional. In contrast, 5, 6-CF transport was evident below sites of aphid probing in Betta-Dn, suggesting that the phloem was still capable of long-distance transport. In addition, callose deposition was reduced in Betta-Dn leaf phloem and it is surmised that transport was not as affected by aphid feeding in the resistant cultivar. This indicates that the ‘resistant’ wheat cultivar may in fact be tolerant to aphid feeding by successfully overcoming the nutrient drain that feeding aphids imposed on the phloem transport system.
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Date Issued: 2007

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Evaluation of the proposed FDA pilot-dose response methodology for topical corticosteroid bioequivalence testing

- Demana, Patrick H, Smith, Eric W, Walker, Roderick B, Haigh, John M, Kanfer, Isadore

Authors: Demana, Patrick H , Smith, Eric W , Walker, Roderick B , Haigh, John M , Kanfer, Isadore
Date: 1997
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6356 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006047
Description: The American FDA has recently released a Guidance document for topical corticosteroid bioequivalence testing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the recommendations of this document for appropriateness. The new specifications require a dose-vasoconstriction response estimation by the use of a Minolta chromameter in a preliminary pilot study to determine the parameters for use in a pivotal bioequivalence study. Methods. The visually-assessed human skin blanching assay methodology routinely practiced in our laboratories was modified to comply with the requirements of the pilot study so that visual and chromameter data could be compared. Two different cream formulations, each containing 0.12% betamethasone 17-valerate, were used for this comparison. Results. Visual data showed the expected rank order of AUC values for most dose durations whereas the chromameter data did not show similar results. The expected rank order of AUC values for both chromameter and visual data was not observed at very short dose durations. In fitting the data to pharmacodynamic models, equivalent goodness of fit criteria were obtained when several different parameter estimates were used in the model definition, however the visual data were best described by the sigmoid E[subscript max] model while the chromameter data were best described by the simple E[subscript max] model. Conclusions. The E[subscript max] values predicted by the models were close to the observed values for both data sets and, in addition, excellent correlation between the AUC values and the maximum blanching response (R[subscript max]) (r > 0.95) was noted for both methods of assessment. The chromameter ED[subscript 50] values determined in this study were approximately 2 hours for both preparations. At this dose duration the instrument would not be sensitive enough to distinguish between weak blanching responses and normal skin for bioequivalence assessment purposes.
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Date Issued: 1997

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Sometimes black, sometimes white urges Africa to Mainz Open Ohr Festival

- Deul, Dieter

Authors: Deul, Dieter
Subjects: McGregor, Chris--1936-1990 , Brotherhood of Breath (Musical group) , Open Ohr Festival , Jazz , Jazz musicians
Language: German
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:13525 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006102 , McGregor, Chris--1936-1990 , Brotherhood of Breath (Musical group) , Open Ohr Festival , Jazz , Jazz musicians
Description: Photocopied article from the German newspaper Metropol-Gesellschaft about the music Open Ohr Festival in Mainz, Germany, where Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath is playing.
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South Africa's `Rainbow People', national pride and optimism: a trend study

- Dickow, H, Moller, Valerie

Authors: Dickow, H , Moller, Valerie
Date: 2002
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:7114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010747
Description: Since the first democratic elections of 1994, South Africans are popularly known as the ‘rainbow people'. The paper reports the acceptance of the rainbow as political symbol of unity among the diverse people of South Africa at three times: Immediately after the 1994 elections, two years later in 1996, and five years later in 1999 after the second general elections. The database for the study are responses to items placed with a syndicated national survey conducted countrywide. The public discourse on the rainbow is reviewed through personal interviews with a panel of 25 elites contacted in the run-up to the second general elections. The researchers revisit conclusions based on the earlier results (Møller, Dickow and Harris, 1999). The third round of research finds that the appeal of the rainbow as political symbol has waned but is still inclusive of all groups in society. Projections of national pride have shifted from the rainbow as symbol of unity and reconciliation to other icons of achievement such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme and prowess in sport. Support for the political symbolism of the rainbow is positively associated with happiness, life satisfaction and optimism. Lack of a focus of national pride is associated with pessimism. Results support the conclusion reached earlier that belief in the `rainbow nation' ideal boosts optimism and promotes happiness during South Africa's transition to a stable democracy, thereby preventing alienation among the losers under the new political dispensation. Linkages between acceptance of the rainbow symbol, subjective well-being and optimism are discussed in the light of the socio-political changes which have taken place in South Africa since democracy.
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Date Issued: 2002

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Constructing a cardinal measure of democratic development in a transition polity: the Nigerian example

- Dinneya, Godson E, Tsegaye, Asrat

Authors: Dinneya, Godson E , Tsegaye, Asrat
Date: 2004
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6076 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003837
Description: Existing measures of the level of democracy present in a given state treat democracy as a product and therefore place undue emphasis on actual freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of the country. In transition polities where the actual levels of freedom are low despite continuing efforts to democratize, democracy should be seen as a process rather than a product. A measure that dilutes the end product to capture today's struggles against undemocratic structures and policies does so in order to recognize the foundations these inputs lay for future democratic development. Nigeria exemplifies the many polities in transition on the African continent. This essay looks at the major political events that typify the processes of power change, quality of governance, political environment and democratic dividends, and uses them to construct democratization indices to determine the pattern and level of democratization in Nigeria since political independence. This exercise sets the stage for assessing the impacts of various dimensions of democratization on the performance of the Nigerian economy.
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Date Issued: 2004

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The trade in medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

- Dold, Anthony P, Cocks, Michelle L

Authors: Dold, Anthony P , Cocks, Michelle L
Date: 2002
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6512 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005940
Description: A study of the trade in medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa undertook to document the species traded, to determine the quantities harvested annually, and to assess the economic value of the trade. All the participants involved at the different levels of the trade were included in the survey, that is, informal street hawkers, owners of amayeza esiXhosa stores, traditional healers, and consumers of traditional medicines. In total, 282 questionnaires were administered in six urban centres. It was found that poorly educated black middle-aged women of low economic standing dominate the trade. A minimum of 166 medicinal plant species were traded at the study sites alone, providing 525 tonnes of plant material valued at approximately R27 million annually. Plants were harvested from a diverse range of vegetation types including Valley Thicket, Afromontane Forest, Coastal Forest and Moist Upland Grassland, the most frequently sold species differing significantly from those documented in similar studies in other regions. The Forest Biome was the vegetation type found to be most threatened by over-harvesting. Of the species documented, 93% were being harvested unsustainably and 34 species have been prioritised for conservation management.
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Date Issued: 2002

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Traditional veterinary medicine in the Alice district of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

- Dold, Anthony P, Cocks, Michelle L

Authors: Dold, Anthony P , Cocks, Michelle L
Date: 2001
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6513 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005941
Description: Resource-poor farmers in rural and peri-urban areas have limited access to veterinary care in terms of support services (from state and private veterinarian and animal health technicians), information about the prevention and treatment of livestock diseases, and preventative and therapeutic veterinary medicines. This results in reduced productivity and in livestock disease and deaths, which is a great burden on these farmers, who can least afford the loss of their animals. There is a need to encourage disadvantaged farmers to use available resources and methods, at minimal cost, and to improve their productivity. One of these resources is ethnoveterinary medicine. A list of 53 plants used as veterinary medicines by stock farmers in the Alice district in the Eastern Cape is presented together with their preparation and methods of administration.
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Date Issued: 2001

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The medicinal use of some weeds, problem and alien plants in the Grahamstown and Peddie districts of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

- Dold, Anthony P, Cocks, Michelle L

Authors: Dold, Anthony P , Cocks, Michelle L
Date: 2000
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6514 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005942
Description: A List of 33 medicinal plants of exotic or indigenous origin, listed as problem plants or declared weeds, is presented. The cultural uses of these plants should be taken into account when weed legislation in South Africa is considered. Of these species, six have no previous medicinal uses recorded in the literature surveyed and 21 species have additional, previously unrecorded uses. Nine previously unrecorded Xhosa names for plants are documented. Plant use categories and indigenous knowledge is discussed regarding the recorded species. The use of alien plants shows that African traditional healing is not static, but dynamic and adaptive.
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Date Issued: 2000

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Hydroclimatic trends, sediment sources and geomorphic response in the Bell River catchment, eastern Cape Drakensberg, South Africa

- Dollar, Evan S J, Rowntree, Kate M

Authors: Dollar, Evan S J , Rowntree, Kate M
Date: 1995
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6677 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006655
Description: The Bell River in the Eastern Cape Drakensberg of South Africa has shown recent signs of channel instability as evidenced by avulsion, sinuosity reductions, gradient steepening and general channel instability. Analysis of rainfall data did not provide evidence for progressive long term change in rainfall pattern for the catchment. However, annual and seasonal rainfall cycles with variance peaks every 16-19 years were found, from which it can be inferred that flood events following years of below average rainfall may cross the threshold limit for channel stability. Channel instability is often followed by a major flood event after sustained low rainfall periods, a sequence referred to as the Flood and Drought Dominated Regimes by Warner (1987). Evidence presented also indicates an increase in catchment erosion in the past century with attendant sediment production increases to the channel. This may be due to catchment land use and management practices (following settlement by commercial farmers) superimposed on long term climatic changes. The conclusions are that catchment and channel processes are inseparable, and that disequilibrium in the catchment will be transferred to the channel.
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Date Issued: 1995

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Conceptualizing the human use of wild edible herbs for conservation in South African communal areas

- Dovie, Delali B K, Shackleton, Charlie M, Witkowski, Ed T F

Authors: Dovie, Delali B K , Shackleton, Charlie M , Witkowski, Ed T F
Date: 2007
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6626 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006818
Description: The importance of wild edible herbaceous species to resource poor households in most rural economies within savannas has been little studied. This is because most of the herbs grow in impoverished species communities and lands, often referred to as ‘marginal lands’. The aim of this paper is to conceptualize how the economics of wild edible herbs to households can be used to add value to total livelihoods and conservation within traditional communal areas of South Africa. Analysis of the economics of the consumption of wild edible herbs in Thorndale (Bushbuckridge district) of the Limpopo province is presented. The majority of households consumed wild edible herbs, averaging 15.4 kg dried weight per household per year and valued at $167 per household. The herbs were mostly harvested from uncultivated areas of farms, and rangelands. There was little correlation between household characteristics and the dependence on wild herbs for food. The local people noted a decline in the availability of the species, although not much is known about attempts to cultivate them. The only reasons attributed to the decline were nutrient poor soils and insufficient rains. With this background, developing a local strategy to sustain the species through cultivation by households was found to be feasible. A multiple-use system for the herbs, their improvement and value addition towards commercialization and increased household usage may result in wider acceptance and subsequent cultivation. Species diversity will be enhanced whilst conserving the land on which they grow. This multiple use system may include species roles in soil and water conservation.
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Date Issued: 2007

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Valuation of communal area livestock benefits, rural livelihoods and related policy issues

- Dovie, Delali B K, Shackleton, Charlie M, Witkowski, Ed T F

Authors: Dovie, Delali B K , Shackleton, Charlie M , Witkowski, Ed T F
Date: 2006
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6627 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006819
Description: The multiple benefits from livestock production to rural households are evaluated in Thorndale, a communal area of the Limpopo Province South Africa. Monetary values of livestock products are presented. Values from most previous studies are static (and thus outdated), as a result of conceptual and methodological shifts. The net monetary value of the direct benefits from livestock was estimated as $656 per household/annum, excluding the holding of cattle for savings. The net value is equivalent to 22.7% of the value of the other livelihood sources that were considered, and inclusive of cash income streams, crops, and secondary woodland resources. A net 168% herd increase in livestock was recorded between 1993 and 1999. More households owned goats compared to cattle, and cattle were important for use as draught power, and for milk. Households without livestock benefited through gifts and services, valued at $33 per household/annum. Policy concerns are the provision of adequate market and pricing mechanisms for communal area livestock, tailored savings, investment support, credit schemes, and infrastructure. An appropriate multipurpose benefit production model, other than a commercialised model is suggested for the sector.
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Date Issued: 2006

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Phylogenetic congruence of mealybugs and their primary endosymbionts

- Downie, D A, Gullan, P J

Authors: Downie, D A , Gullan, P J
Date: 2005
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6905 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011858 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2004.00834.x
Description: Tight interactions between unrelated organisms such as is seen in plant–insect, host–parasite, or host–symbiont associations may lead to speciation of the smaller partners when their hosts speciate. Totally congruent phylogenies of interacting taxa have not been observed often but a number of studies have provided evidence that various hemipteran insect taxa and their primary bacterial endosymbionts share phylogenetic histories. Like other hemipterans, mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) harbour multiple intracellular bacterial symbionts, which are thought to be strictly vertically inherited, implying codivergence of hosts and symbionts. Here, robust estimates of phylogeny were generated from four fragments of three nuclear genes for mealybugs of the subfamily Pseudococcinae, and a substantial fragment of the 16S–23S rDNA of their P-endosymbionts. Phylogenetic congruence was highly significant, with 75% of nodes on the two trees identical, and significant correlation of branch lengths indicated coincident timing of cladogenesis. It is suggested that the low level of observed incongruence was influenced by uncertainty in phylogenetic estimation, but evolutionary outcomes other than congruence, including host shifts, could not be rejected.
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Date Issued: 2005

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The potential for voluntary instruments to achieve conservation planning goals : the case of conservancies in South Africa

- Downsborough, Linda, Shackleton, Charlie M, Knight, Andrew T

Authors: Downsborough, Linda , Shackleton, Charlie M , Knight, Andrew T
Date: 2011
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6629 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006821
Description: Spatial prioritizations and gap analyses are increasingly undertaken to allocate conservation resources. Most spatial prioritizations are conducted without specifying the conservation instruments to be implemented and gap analyses typically assess formally protected areas but increasingly include private land conservation instruments. We examine conservancies to see if these voluntary instruments contribute towards achieving goals of South African conservation planning initiatives. We conducted a nationwide survey and interviews with conservancy members in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. Conservancies have potential for assisting South Africa to achieve conservation planning goals at national and local scales but their inclusion in spatial prioritizations and gap analyses predicates improved protection for nature, operational refinement and increased support. We sound a warning to conservation planning initiatives that incorporate voluntary instruments on private land, and present recommendations for strengthening such instruments to make them more effective. Our findings may assist conservation planners elsewhere to design more effective conservation planning initiatives focused on private land.
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Date Issued: 2011

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