Availability and use of assistive technologies at selected South African public libraries.

Background: Assistive technologies (ATs) enable persons with visual impairment (PwVI) to equitably benefit from public library resources and services as their sighted counterparts. However, the extent to which this facility is available and used at public libraries in less-developed countries remains largely unknown. Objectives: This study reports on the investigation done on the availability and use of ATs by PwVI at public libraries in the cities of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg in South Africa. Method: The study used a multimethod and explanatory sequential design in which data were collected through questionnaires administered with 131 librarians and interviews held with 10 PwVI. Results: The findings of the study point towards inadequate availability of computers with internet services, audiotapes, screen magnifying and reading software, and these were used for, among others, leisure, research, job searching and communication. Conclusion: The study concludes that certain ATs were inadequately available and used by PwVI at some libraries in the cities of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg. The study recommends training for PwVI on how to use ATs, marketing of available ATs, training of staff on how to render AT-based services as well as management availing adequate budget for the development of AT-based collection. Contribution: The study contributes to the understanding of the types of ATs available and used by PwVI in public libraries.

Ubuntu considered in light of exclusion of people with disabilities.

BACKGROUND: This article emanates from a study funded by the KwaZulu-Natal chapter of South Africa's National Research Foundation on the 'Archaeology of Ubuntu'. It explores the notion of ubuntu and disability in a group of Zulu people from four communities within KwaZulu-Natal. The study is based on the notion that ubuntu is humaneness. Being human is linked to notions of care, respect and compassion. OBJECTIVES: The article explores the treatment of people with disabilities from the elders' perspectives in this community. METHOD: This article is based on qualitative data resulting from structured interviews conducted in the KwaZulu-Natal Province between February and March 2015. RESULTS: The results reveal that society considered the birth of a disabled child as a curse from God and punishment from the ancestors. The results also indicate that people with disabilities were excluded from community activities; marrying a disabled person was unthinkable because they were stigmatised and dehumanised. The work of Hannah Arendt is used to interrogate people's perceptions of others with disabilities in their communities. CONCLUSION: The article posits that treatment of people with disabilities is not cast in stone but can be renegotiated and restructured through community engagement to represent genuine inclusion.

Measurement of the Vector and Tensor Asymmetries at Large Missing Momentum in Quasielastic (e[over →],e

We report the measurement of the beam-vector and tensor asymmetries A_{ed}^{V} and A_{d}^{T} in quasielastic (e[over →],e^{'}p) electrodisintegration of the deuteron at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center up to missing momentum of 500 MeV/c. Data were collected simultaneously over a momentum transfer range 0.1

Precise measurement of deuteron tensor analyzing powers with BLAST.

We report a precision measurement of the deuteron tensor analyzing powers T(20) and T(21) at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center. Data were collected simultaneously over a momentum transfer range Q=2.15-4.50 fm(-1) with the Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid using a highly polarized deuterium internal gas target. The data are in excellent agreement with calculations in a framework of effective field theory. The deuteron charge monopole and quadrupole form factors G(C) and G(Q) were separated with improved precision, and the location of the first node of G(C) was confirmed at Q=4.19±0.05 fm(-1). The new data provide a strong constraint on theoretical models in a momentum transfer range covering the minimum of T(20) and the first node of G(C).

Charge form factor of the neutron at low momentum transfer from the 2H-->(e-->,e'n)1H reaction.

We report new measurements of the neutron charge form factor at low momentum transfer using quasielastic electrodisintegration of the deuteron. Longitudinally polarized electrons at an energy of 850 MeV were scattered from an isotopically pure, highly polarized deuterium gas target. The scattered electrons and coincident neutrons were measured by the Bates Large Acceptance Spectrometer Toroid (BLAST) detector. The neutron form factor ratio GEn/GMn was extracted from the beam-target vector asymmetry AedV at four-momentum transfers Q2=0.14, 0.20, 0.29, and 0.42 (GeV/c)2.

-Measurement of the proton's electric to magnetic form factor ratio from 1H(over -->)(e(over -->),e'p).

We report the first precision measurement of the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio from spin-dependent elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from a polarized hydrogen internal gas target. The measurement was performed at the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring over a range of four-momentum transfer squared Q2 from 0.15 to 0.65 (GeV/c)(2). Significantly improved results on the proton electric and magnetic form factors are obtained in combination with existing cross-section data on elastic electron-proton scattering in the same Q2 region.