Of drama,dreams and desire: creative approaches to applied sex education in southern Africa

In the midst of a generalised HIV and AIDS epidemic in southern Africa, the argument for more coordinated and comprehensive youth sexual health interventions is intensifying. Yet the crucial question of how best to provide young people with these skills and knowledge remains a key challenge for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in our region. Moreover, amongst the available literature on sex education in southern Africa, few authors have taken an applied perspective, to look at fresh approaches and tools with the potential to be implemented more broadly. This paper argues for a greater focus on concepts of masculinity and sexuality in the development of sexual health efforts in southern Africa. It aims to bridge theory and practice by advancing six promising approaches with the potential to create a suitable space and environment for participants to engage with these issues. Approaches include methods and tools currently being implemented in existing programmes, as well as ideas emerging from recent literature. Our paper is ultimately a call for further ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking to find more effective and creative practical ways of providing the sexual health education our region's youth urgently needs. It is also a call for more applied research, to better inform future sex education programmes in southern Africa.     

Exploring Survivor Experiences and Emotions Expressed about Loss and Responsibility Following a Thrombosis Event

We explored the experiences and emotions women expressed about having a blood clot, including revelations about family members' decision to avoid disclosing inherited risk for clotting. We do this through analysis of in-depth life reflection interviews (N = 20) of women who experienced a first venous blood clot between the ages of 18 and 50 years. Selective coding reduced the data to an overarching story associated with thrombosis survivorship and loss across multiple life domains. The themes identified include participant revelations about living in the shadow of genetic susceptibility for thrombosis. Participants manage changes associated with lingering health effects, and daily routines for work and life, adapting their lives to manage coagulability. A second theme reveals the fallout linked to the severity of thrombosis encompassed in haunting psychological scenarios, persistent emotional concerns, and social discrimination. Participants assumed responsibility to disclose inherited risk, with the women expressing empowerment in knowing risks and acknowledging possible genetic testing mistakes. The overarching perspective was one of hope through proactive actions in occupational, recreational, and relational realms. We offer our findings as a theoretical depiction of thrombosis survivor identity and the need for public health and clinical communication to support disclosing family history for clotting.     

互补性与次协调性

玻尔互补性原理的准确意义已引起了许多争论。这里我们并不打算对玻尔的观点进行详细的评论,而是对在一种明确的意义上包含互补性被我们称之为C-理论的理论所能理解的东西作尽可能有道理的解释。那些理论的基本逻辑是一种通过对经典逻辑的演绎概念作恰当修改而得到的所谓＂次经典＂逻辑。粗略地说,C-理论是含有＂物理上＂不相容定理（尤其是矛盾定理）的非平庸理论。因此,其基本逻辑是一种次协调逻辑。本文被视为我们有关C-理论及其应用的一系列作品的第一篇。     

Output-feedback binary adaptive control of MIMO systems using monitoring function

The problem of adaptive control design for multivariable linear time-invariant plants with unknown control direction is considered. A solution is proposed based on the SDU factorization of the high frequency gain matrix (HFG) and the monitoring function approach. The adaptation scheme is the binary model reference adaptive control (BMRAC) which utilizes parameter projection and sufficiently high adaptation gains. The signs of the leading principal minors of the HFG define the control directions, and the lack of knowledge of which is a major challenge in the multivariable framework. The role of the monitoring function is to monitor the output error transient and then provide the necessary changes of the adaptation gain signs to guarantee a stable adaptive control. In addition to proving the signal boundedness of the resulting closed-loop system, the output tracking error is shown to be asymptotically as well as exponentially practically stable, i.e., exponentially stable with respect to a small residual compact set of size inversely proportional to the BMRAC adaptation gain. The latter implies good transient properties of the output tracking error in contrast to conventional adaptive laws which only guarantee asymptotic stability but can lead to extremely slow error convergence. The extension of the proposed approach to matched disturbances is also briefly discussed following the classical paradigm of disturbance estimators. Numerical results with a visual servoing application illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method.     

School science as a rite of passage: A new frame for familiar problems

The purpose of this article is twofold: to characterize and describe school science as a rite of passage, and to expose problems in school science that are made visible through the use of this metaphor. Like other rite-of-passage studies by van Gennep, Turner, and White, school-science-as-a-rite-of-passage follows the classic model: First, science students are separated from other students through their enrollment in introductory science classes and laboratory (the phase of separation). Science students are then secluded in the classroom and laboratory where a specialized body of knowledge unique to the scientific community is transmitted to them (the phase of transition). Eventually, students are presented via graduation ceremonies to the ordinary world with accompanying changes in their status and rights (the phase of reincorporation). However, unlike traditional passage rites, school science is a lengthy and ambiguous process that muddles the points of separation and reincorporation and fails to clarify the value of transition rituals.     

Beauty,effort and talent: a brief history of Brazilian women’s soccer in press discourse

This essay offers a brief historical background to the evolution of women’s soccer in Brazil. It focuses on the main obstacles women faced to pursue the game, which was forbidden to women in Brazil in 1941. By analysing how the newspapers treat women’s teams, the essay will try to highlight significant changes in the stereotypes that long guided perceptions of people about women soccer players.     

Determining the minimum number of passive stretches necessary to alter musculotendinous stiffness

Abstract

In this study, we examined the minimum number of constant-torque passive stretches necessary to reduce musculotendinous stiffness. Thirteen healthy individuals (mean age 22 years, s = 3; stature 1.67 m, s = 0.1; mass 66 kg, s = 13 kg) volunteered to participate in the investigation and underwent four 30-s constant-torque passive stretches of the plantar flexor muscles. Musculotendinous stiffness was examined from the angle–torque curves generated prior to the passive stretches, at the beginning of each 30-s stretch, and immediately following the four 30-s passive stretches. The results indicated that musculotendinous stiffness of the plantar flexors was reduced following two 30-s constant-torque passive stretches (P < 0.05) compared with the pre- musculotendinous stiffness assessment. Musculotendinous stiffness remained depressed following the third and fourth stretches, but did not decrease further. These findings suggest that two 30-s bouts of constant-torque passive stretching may be necessary to cause a significant decrease in musculotendinous stiffness of the plantar flexor muscles.     

Water-Based Aerobic Training Successfully Improves Lipid Profile of Dyslipidemic Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of water-based aerobic training on the lipid profile and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) levels in premenopausal women with dyslipidemia. Method: Forty women were randomly assigned to: aquatic training (WA; n = 20) or a control group (CG; n = 20). The WA group underwent 12 weeks of water-based interval aerobic training twice a week at intensities ranging from 9 to 15 on the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high- (HDL) and low- (LDL) density lipoprotein, TC/HDL ratio, LPL levels, and peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak) were evaluated before and after 12 weeks in both groups. Results: The WA group elicited decreases in TC (9%; effect size [ES] = 0.69; 95% CI [0.05, 1.33]), LDL (16%; ES = 0.78; 95% CI [0.13, 1.42]), and the TC/HDL ratio (17%; ES = 1.13; 95% CI [0.46, 1.79]), as well as increases in VO₂peak (10%; ES = 0.64; 95% CI [0.002, 1.27]) and HDL (10%; ES = 0.28; 95% CI [?0.35. 0.90]), without significant changes in TG (ES = 0.16; 95% CI [?0.46, 1.79]) and LPL (ES = 0.36; 95% CI [?0.27, 0.98]) levels. In the CG, no statistically significant changes in any of these variables were found (TC, ES = 0.19, 95% CI [?0.43, 0.82]; LDL, ES = 0.22, 95% CI [?0.40, 0.85]; HDL, ES = 0.05, 95% CI [?0.57, 0.67]; TG, ES = 0.09, 95% CI [?0.53, 0.71]; TC/HDL ratio, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]; LPL, ES = 0.02, 95% CI [?0.60, 0.64]; VO₂peak, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]). Conclusion: Water-based interval aerobic training positively affected the lipid profile in premenopausal dyslipidemic women.