scholarly journals An exploration of the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of Xhosa men concerning traditional circumcision

Author(s):  
Salome Froneman ◽  
Paul A. Kapp

Background: The practice of traditional circumcision is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, yet there is a paucity of literature that provides an understanding of the cultural values that influence men to choose traditional rather than medical circumcision.The aim of this study was to better understand the culture surrounding traditional circumcision, with a view to addressing morbidity and mortality rates associated with the Xhosa male initiation rituals.We explored Xhosa men’s perceptions regarding the need for the risks and the social pressure to undergo traditional circumcision, the impact of non-initiation or failed initiation and the perceived barriers to obtaining medical help for the complications of traditional circumcisions.Methods: Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 purposively sampled teenagers and adult men. The interviews were recorded, translated, transcribed and analysed using the framework method.Results: Traditional circumcision was seen as essential to Xhosa culture. Participants rationalised many reasons for participating, including personal growth and development, family and peer pressure, independence and knowledge gained, a connection with ancestors and initiation into manhood. Despite publicity of the dangers of traditional circumcision and the hardships they have to endure, most young men still saw this process as necessary and worthwhile.Conclusion: Traditional initiation and circumcision are here to stay. The majority of boys still trust the elders and supernatural processes to guide them. However, some participants welcomed government initiatives to reduce human error causing unnecessary death and suffering. Current systems to prevent morbidity and mortality are insufficient and should be prioritised.

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hansen ◽  
Tom Postmes ◽  
Nikita van der Vinne ◽  
Wendy van Thiel

This paper studies whether and how information and communication technology (ICT) changes self-construal and cultural values in a developing country. Ethiopian children were given laptops in the context of an ICT for development scheme. We compared children who used laptops (n = 69) with a control group without laptops (n = 76) and a second control group of children whose laptop had broken down (n = 24). Results confirmed that after 1 year of laptop usage, the children’s self-concept had become more independent and children endorsed individualist values more strongly. Interestingly, the impact of laptop usage on cultural values was mediated by self-construal (moderated mediation). Importantly, modernization did not “crowd out” traditional culture: ICT usage was not associated with a reduction in traditional expressions (interdependent self-construal, collectivist values). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Priyastiwi Priyastiwi

The purpose of this article is to provide the basic model of Hofstede and Grays’ cultural values that relates the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Gray‘s accounting value. This article reviews some studies that prove the model and develop the research in the future. There are some evidences that link the Hofstede’s cultural values studies with the auditor’s judgment and decisions by developing a framework that categorizes the auditor’s judgments and decisions are most likely influenced by cross-cultural differences. The categories include risk assessment, risk decisions and ethical judgments. Understanding the impact of cultural factors on the practice of accounting and financial disclosure is important to achieve the harmonization of international accounting. Deep understanding about how the local values may affect the accounting practices and their impacts on the financial disclosure are important to ensure the international comparability of financial reporting. Gray’s framework (1988) expects how the culture may affect accounting practices at the national level. One area of the future studies will examine the impact of cultural dimensions to the values of accounting, auditing and decision making. Key word : Motivation, leadership style, job satisfaction, performance


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Nyoman Wijana ◽  
I Gusti Agung Nyoman Setiawan ◽  
Sanusi Mulyadiharja ◽  
I Gede Astra Wesnawa ◽  
Putu Indah Rahmawati

This research aimed to know the implementation of environmental conservation in terms of cultural value orientation, including humanistic nature orientation, man-nature orientation, time orientation, activity orientation, and relational orientation. The population of this research was the entire community in traditional village Tenganan Pegringsingan, Karangasem, Bali. This research sample amounted to 25 people, consisting of the conventional village apparatus, community leaders, and the general public. Methods of data collection were the method of observation, interview, questionnaire, and checklist. The collected data were analyzed descriptively. This research indicated that the orientation of cultural values of humanistic nature orientation and man-nature orientation had an excellent quality. The time orientation, activity orientation, and relational orientation parameters had good quality. Culture in the study community generally showed a positive thing, so the impact of culture on the quality of the environment, in general, was excellent. The results of observations in the field revealed that there were all community activities at Tenganan Pegringsingan that could not cause environmental pollution. Therefore, the role of traditional regulation or awig-awig to regulate environmental and social-culture.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Petra Skolilova

The article outlines some human factors affecting the operation and safety of passenger air transport given the massive increase in the use of the VLA. Decrease of the impact of the CO2 world emissions is one of the key goals for the new aircraft design. The main wave is going to reduce the burned fuel. Therefore, the eco-efficiency engines combined with reasonable economic operation of the aircraft are very important from an aviation perspective. The prediction for the year 2030 says that about 90% of people, which will use long-haul flights to fly between big cities. So, the A380 was designed exactly for this time period, with a focus on the right capacity, right operating cost and right fuel burn per seat. There is no aircraft today with better fuel burn combined with eco-efficiency per seat, than the A380. The very large aircrafts (VLAs) are the future of the commercial passenger aviation. Operating cost versus safety or CO2 emissions versus increasing automation inside the new generation aircraft. Almost 80% of the world aircraft accidents are caused by human error based on wrong action, reaction or final decision of pilots, the catastrophic failures of aircraft systems, or air traffic control errors are not so frequent. So, we are at the beginning of a new age in passenger aviation and the role of the human factor is more important than ever.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Lind ◽  
Johan Sundström ◽  
Johan Ärnlöv ◽  
Ulf Risérus ◽  
Erik Lampa

AbstractThe impact of most, but not all, cardiovascular risk factors decline by age. We investigated how the metabolic syndrome (MetS) was related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) during 40 years follow-up in the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM, 2,123 men all aged 50 at baseline with reinvestigations at age 60, 70, 77 and 82). The strength of MetS as a risk factor of incident combined end-point of three outcomes (CVD) declined with ageing, as well as for myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and heart failure when analysed separately. For CVD, the risk ratio declined from 2.77 (95% CI 1.90–4.05) at age 50 to 1.30 (95% CI 1.05–1.60) at age 82. In conclusion, the strength of MetS as a risk factor of incident CVD declined with age. Since MetS was significantly related to incident CVD also at old age, our findings suggest that the occurrence of MetS in the elderly should not be regarded as innocent. However, since our data were derived in an observational study, any impact of MetS in the elderly needs to be verified in a randomized clinical intervention trial.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Oliver Korn ◽  
Neziha Akalin ◽  
Ruben Gouveia

This article presents a study of cultural differences affecting the acceptance and design preferences of social robots. Based on a survey with 794 participants from Germany and the three Arab countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, we discuss how culture influences the preferences for certain attributes. We look at social roles, abilities and appearance, emotional awareness and interactivity of social robots, as well as the attitude toward automation. Preferences were found to differ not only across cultures, but also within countries with similar cultural backgrounds. Our findings also show a nuanced picture of the impact of previously identified culturally variable factors, such as attitudes toward traditions and innovations. While the participants’ perspectives toward traditions and innovations varied, these factors did not fully account for the cultural variations in their perceptions of social robots. In conclusion, we believe that more real-life practices emerging from the situated use of robots should be investigated. Besides focusing on the impact of broader cultural values such as those associated with religion and traditions, future studies should examine how users interact, or avoid interaction, with robots within specific contexts of use.


2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 567-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
JE Kivistö ◽  
VM Mattila ◽  
J Parkkari ◽  
P Kannus

Poisonings cause considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, only few countries have published nationwide statistics on poisoning deaths. Based on the Official Cause-of-Death Statistics of Finland, we investigated the incidence and secular trend of poisoning deaths in Finland in 1971–2005. Alcohol poisoning deaths and other poisoning deaths were analyzed separately. During the 35-year study period, other poisoning deaths (non-alcohol) increased from 2.6/100,000 in men and 1.4/100,000 in women in 1971 to 6.8/100,000 and 3.2/100,000 in 2005, respectively. Alcohol poisoning death rates also increased from 9.6/100,000 in men and 0.7/100,000 in women in 1971 to 16.8/100,000 and 4.2/100,000 in 2005, respectively. In the early 1970s, the incidence rates of alcohol deaths were about 10 times higher in men compared with women, whereas in the last few years of observation, men's incidence rate was only about four times higher. Our study showed that alcohol and other poisoning deaths increased in Finland between 1971 and 2005. Men’s risk was markedly higher than women’s risk, but in the later years, women’s risk was increasing. Poisoning death rates among children and adolescents were low throughout the period.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Christophe Cognard ◽  
Laurent Pierot ◽  
René Anxionnat ◽  
Frédéric Ricolfi

Abstract BACKGROUND: The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) showed that for ruptured aneurysms suitable for both techniques, coiling should be the first-choice treatment. Only a small proportion of patients (22%) with ruptured aneurysms were included in that trial. Operators were selected on their experience. One could then criticize the impact of the ISAT on clinical practice as a result of recruitment biases and operators' selection. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the morbidity and mortality of coiling when used as first-choice treatment in a consecutive population of patients with ruptured aneurysms treated by nonselected operators. METHODS: Thirty-four operators from 19 French centers treated 405 patients with GDC coils from November 2006 to July 2007. The method of treatment was not prespecified. RESULTS: World Federation of Neurological Societies grade at admission was I/II in 65.7% and IV/V in 30.6% of patients. At the 3- to 6-month follow-up, 23.3% of patients were dependent or dead. Thromboembolic events and intraoperative rupture resulted in permanent deficit in 13 (3.2%) and 2 (0.5%), respectively, and death in 4 (1.0%) and 0. Early rebleeding occurred in 2 patients (0.5%) with 2 subsequent deaths. Permanent treatment morbidity and mortality were 3.7 % and 1.5 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: Clinical results of the multicenter prospective Clarity registry show that when coiling is performed as first-intention treatment in a consecutive series of nonselected ruptured aneurysms by nonselected operators, clinical results are similar to those of the ISAT.


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