Scientific frontiers in the management of coral reefs
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Mumby, Peter J , Baker, Andrew , Christie, Patrick , McCook, Laurence J , Steneck, Robert S , Richmond, Robert H
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70582 , vital:29677 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00050
- Description: Coral reefs are subjected globally to a variety of natural and anthropogenic stressors that often act synergistically. Today, reversing ongoing and future coral reef degradation presents significant challenges and countering this negative trend will take considerable efforts and investments. Scientific knowledge can inform and guide the requisite decision-making process and offer practical solutions to the problem of protection as the effects of climate change exacerbate. However, implementation of solutions presently lags far behind the pace required to reverse global declines, and there is a need for an urgent and significant step-up in the extent and range of strategies being implemented. In this paper, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science research that can help build stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of interventions. We cover various areas including: (1) enhancing the case for reef conservation and management, (2) dealing with local stressors on reefs, (3) addressing global climate change impacts, (4) and reviewing various approaches to the governance of coral reefs. In sum, we consider scientific frontiers in natural and social science that will require further attention in coming years as managers work toward building stronger support for reef management and improve the efficacy of local interventions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The palladacycle, AJ-5, exhibits anti-tumour and anti-cancer stem cell activity in breast cancer cells:
- Authors: Aliwaini, Saeb , Peres, Jade , Kröger, Wendy L , Blanckenberg, Angelique , de la Mare, Jo-Anne , Edkins, Adrienne L , Mapolie, Selwyn , Prince, Sharon
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164874 , vital:41180 , DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2014.11.027
- Description: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy amongst women worldwide but despite enormous efforts to address this problem, there is still limited success with most of the current therapeutic strategies. The current study describes the anti-cancer activity of a binuclear palladacycle complex (AJ-5) in oestrogen receptor positive (MCF7) and oestrogen receptor negative (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cells as well as human breast cancer stem cells. AJ-5 is shown to induce DNA double strand breaks leading to intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis and autophagy cell death pathways which are mediated by the p38 MAP kinase. This study provides evidence that AJ-5 is potentially an effective compound in the treatment of breast cancer.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Breast cancer: current developments in molecular approaches to diagnosis and treatment
- Authors: de la Mare, Jo-Anne , Contu, Lara , Hunter, Morgan C , Moyo, Buhle , Sterrenberg, Jason N , Dhanani, Karim C H , Mutsvunguma, Lorraine Z , Edkins, Adrienne L
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164819 , vital:41175 , DOI: 10.2174/15748928113086660046
- Description: Due to the high heterogeneity of breast cancers, numerous recent patents describe improved methods of detection and classification which promise better patient prognosis and treatment. In particular, there has been a shift towards more effective genetic screening to identify specific mutations associated with breast tumours, which may lead to “personalised medicine” with improved outcomes. Two challenging areas of breast cancer research involve the development of treatments for the highly aggressive triple negative breast cancer subtype as well as the chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cell subpopulation. In addition, despite numerous recent advances in breast cancer treatment in woman, male breast cancer remains poorly understood and there are limited therapies available which are developed specifically for men. This review serves to report on important developments in the treatment of breast malignancies patented in the past two years as well as to highlight the current gaps in the field of breast cancer therapeutics and areas which require further study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Climate Change and Environmental Challenges in Southern African Development Community (SADC): Responses in the Age of Globalisation
- Authors: Chikunda, Charles , Mandikonza, Caleb
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437249 , vital:73363 , ISBN 9789462098367 , https://brill.com/display/book/9789462098367/BP000009.xml
- Description: There is evidence that one of the greatest controversies facing Africa today is how to make sense of the two leading global intentions of the 21st century: sustainable development and globalisation. These two paradigms appear to have some op-posing tendencies within them, some of which are contestable. Globalisation advocates for liberalisation; reduction or elimina-tion of state regulations on the market, free reign, and a high degree of rights to the large corporations that dominate the market. Globalisation also entails the cross flow of knowledge and knowledge forms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Differential motif enrichment analysis of paired ChIP-seq experiments
- Authors: Lesluyes, Tom , Johnson, James , Machanick, Philip , Bailey, Timothy L
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/439250 , vital:73559 , https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-752
- Description: Motif enrichment analysis of transcription factor ChIP-seq data can help identify transcription factors that cooperate or compete. Previously, little attention has been given to comparative motif enrichment analysis of pairs of ChIP-seq experiments, where the binding of the same transcription factor is assayed under different conditions. Such comparative analysis could potentially identify the distinct regulatory partners/competitors of the assayed transcription factor under different conditions or at different stages of development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
E-Literacy training in deep rural areas: The Siyakhula Living Lab experience
- Authors: Gumbo, Sibukelo , Ntšekhe, Mathe , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431411 , vital:72772 , http://proceedings.e-skillsconference.org/2014/e-skills141-154Gumbo824.pdf
- Description: Within the discourse of broadband deployment in poor areas (particular-ly rural), very little attention is generally put on the critical enabler repre-sented by e-literacy training that empowers people to use ICT systems, especially in the form of full-fledged machines such as fixed, tower and laptop computers (These machines are still more preferable for growing a generation of ‘producers’ as opposed to ‘consumers’ in the ICT space.) This paper reports on the experience in running e-literacy in a deep rural area, as part of the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL), whose end goal is to diffuse production oriented ICTs in poor areas of South Africa and Africa. In particular it will expand on the feedback given by the par-ticipants to the last edition of the e-literacy course, run in the first se-mester of 2014. The lessons learned from this experience include: the need for linguistic localization of the learning material or at least part of its presentation; the importance of teaching and learning that facilitates (easy) transfer of knowledge gained to other ICT settings (such as mo-biles; or uses to support business); and the importance of face-to-face courses to allow real interaction with the people living in the targeted areas, partly as a strategic means to forging relations towards the reali-zation of the Living Lab vision (co-creation of solutions with empowered users). Altogether, e-literacy courses have proved to be critical to the broad aim of SLL of ‘activating’the segment of society living in poor ar-eas towards self-determination. A small but telling indicator is the trans-formation in the view people have of themselves once certified as e-literate.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Food security in a perfect storm: using the ecosystem services framework to increase understanding
- Authors: Poppy, G M , Chiotha, S , Eigenbrod, Felix , Harvey, Celia A , Honzák, M , Hudson, M D , Jarvis, A , Madise, N J , Schreckenberg, Kate , Shackleton, Charlie M , Villa, Ferdinando , Dawson, Terence P
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60952 , vital:27900 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0288
- Description: Achieving food security in a ‘perfect storm’ scenario is a grand challenge for society. Climate change and an expanding global population act in concert to make global food security even more complex and demanding. As achieving food security and the millennium development goal (MDG) to eradicate hunger influences the attainment of other MDGs, it is imperative that we offer solutions which are complementary and do not oppose one another. Sustainable intensification of agriculture has been proposed as a way to address hunger while also minimizing further environmental impact. However, the desire to raise productivity and yields has historically led to a degraded environment, reduced biodiversity and a reduction in ecosystem services (ES), with the greatest impacts affecting the poor. This paper proposes that the ES framework coupled with a policy response framework, for example Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR), can allow food security to be delivered alongside healthy ecosystems, which provide many other valuable services to humankind. Too often, agro-ecosystems have been considered as separate from other natural ecosystems and insufficient attention has been paid to the way in which services can flow to and from the agro-ecosystem to surrounding ecosystems. Highlighting recent research in a large multi-disciplinary project (ASSETS), we illustrate the ES approach to food security using a case study from the Zomba district of Malawi.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Happiness, national pride and the 2010 World Cup
- Authors: Moller, Valerie
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67265 , vital:29065 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317664185
- Description: publisher version , The potential for national pride to take on shades of both the authentic and the hubristic is reflected in the International Social Survey Program's (ISSP) use of two different multi-item measures of national pride, a general and a domain-specific one. In contrast, domain-specific national pride is characterized as 'not overtly nationalistic, imperialistic, nor chauvinistic' and is expressed as positive feelings towards national accomplishments in a range of domains including arts, science and sport. Most scholars who take an interest in the impact of sport mega-events acknowledge that national pride is related to concepts such as patriotism and nationalism whose meanings are difficult to disentangle. The South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), which has tracked the attitudes of South African adults around the 2010 World Cup, has confirmed this idea. The longitudinal SASAS study found that subsequent to the event, there was an enormous upswing in the belief that the World Cup had a positive impact on social cohesion.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
Losing, using, refusing, cruising: first-generation South African women academics narrate the complexity of marginality
- Authors: Idahosa, Grace E , Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141820 , vital:38007 , DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2014.874766
- Description: In this article we ask how senior academic women in South Africa narrate their experience of being ‘outside in’ the teaching machine. Wide research literature documents the gross underrepresentation of women in senior positions in the academy. It has been argued that intertwined sexist, patriarchal and phallocentric knowledges and practices in academic institutions produce various forms of discrimination, inequality, oppression and marginalisation. Academic women report feeling invisible and retreating to the margins so as to avoid victimisation and discrimination. Others have pointed to the tension between the ‘tenure clock’ and ‘biological clock’ as a source of anxiety. However, experiences of academic women are not identical. In the context of studies showing the importance of existing personal and social resources, prior experience and having mentors and role models in the negotiation of inequality and discrimination, we document the narratives of women academics who are the first in their families to graduate with a university degree.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Ocean warming, a rapid distributional shift, and the hybridization of a coastal fish species
- Authors: Potts, Warren M , Henriques, Romina , Santos, Carmen V D , Munnik, Kate , Ansorge, Isabelle J , Dufois, Francois , Sauer, Warwick H H , Booth, Anthony J , Kirchner, Carola , Sauer, Warwick , Shaw, Paul W
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125375 , vital:35777 , https://doi.10.1111/gcb.12612
- Description: Despite increasing awareness of large-scale climate-driven distribution shifts in the marine environment, no study has linked rapid ocean warming to a shift in distribution and consequent hybridization of a marine fish species. This study describes rapid warming (0.8 °C per decade) in the coastal waters of the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone over the last three decades and a concomitant shift by a temperature sensitive coastal fish species (Argyrosomus coronus) southward from Angola into Namibia. In this context, rapid shifts in distribution across Economic Exclusive Zones will complicate the management of fishes, particularly when there is a lack of congruence in the fisheries policy between nations. Evidence for recent hybridization between A. coronus and a congener, A. inodorus, indicate that the rapid shift in distribution of A. coronus has placed adults of the two species in contact during their spawning events. Ocean warming may therefore revert established species isolation mechanisms and alter the evolutionary history of fishes. While the consequences of the hybridization on the production of the resource remain unclear, this will most likely introduce additional layers of complexity to their management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Outside city limits: introducing Anton van der Merwe of Starways Arts, in Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1012 , vital:30191
- Description: Certain contemporary artists in South Africa choose to live in rural areas rather than in cities. This paper explores some reasons for this preference, and also looks at countercultural back-to-the-earth trends and other factors that may have encouraged some of these artists to prefer to live and work in rural settings. It is against this background that artist Anton van der Merwe is introduced and his early choices of spaces in which to work, both as a potter and painter, are examined. This background serves to contextualise his decision, made in 1992, to move home and studio from Midrand in Gauteng to Hogsback village, in rural Eastern Cape. Hardships were faced, artistic growth has been experienced, and a flourishing visual arts practice has been established by him at Starways Arts. In conclusion, it is noted that involvement in aspects of local community affairs have resulted in widespread mutual benefit.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Vice-Chancellor's 2014 Address to Graduation Ceremonies
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: vital:7869 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016418
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The Educational Journal
- Date: 2013-07
- Subjects: Education – South Africa , South Africa – Economic conditions , South Africa – Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/38379 , vital:34739 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa. From the 2000s, the journal was published by the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), a trade union formed in August 1998 from the amalgamation of militant and moderate trade unions and also operated in the education sphere.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013-07
Vice-Chancellor's graduation ceremonies and chancellor's installation address
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2013-04-05
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7910 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016460
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013-04-05
The Educational Journal
- Date: 2013-03
- Subjects: Education – South Africa , South Africa – Economic conditions , South Africa – Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/38619 , vital:34840 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa. From the 2000s, the journal was published by the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), a trade union formed in August 1998 from the amalgamation of militant and moderate trade unions and also operated in the education sphere.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013-03
The Context of Higher Education
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2013-02-18
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7900 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016450
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013-02-18
Cytotoxicity of lapachol, β-lapachone and related synthetic 1, 4-naphthoquinones against oesophageal cancer cells:
- Authors: Sunassee, Suthananda N , Veale, Clinton G L , Shunmoogam-Gounden, Nelusha , Osoniyi, Omalaja , Hendricks, Denver T , Caira, Mino R , de la Mare, Jo-Anne , Edkins, Adrienne L , Pinto, Antônio V , da Silva Junior, Eufrânio N , Davies-Coleman, Michael T
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/165207 , vital:41218 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2012.12.048
- Description: Naphthoquinones have been found to have a wide range of biological activities, including cytotoxicity to cancer cells. The secondary metabolites lapachol, α- and β-lapachone and a series of 25 related synthetic 1,4-naphthoquinones were screened against the oesophageal cancer cell line (WHCO1). Most of the compounds exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity (IC50 1.6–11.7 μM) compared to the current drug of choice cisplatin (IC50 = 16.5 μM).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Two sides of the same coin: extinctions and originations across the Atlantic/Indian Ocean boundary as consequences of the same climate oscillation
- Authors: Teske, Peter R , Zardi, Gerardo I , McQuaid, Christopher D , Nicastro, Katy R
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/445547 , vital:74399 , https://doi.org/10.21425/F5FBG15591
- Description: Global climate change is correlated not only with variation in extinction rates, but also with speciation rates. However, few mechanisms have been proposed to explain how climate change may have driven the emergence of new evolutionary lineages that eventually became distinct species. Here, we discuss a model of range extension followed by divergence, in which the same climate oscillations that resulted in the extinction of coastal species across the Atlantic/Indian Ocean boundary in southwestern Africa also sowed the seeds of new biodiversity. We present evidence for range extensions and evolutionary divergence from both fossil and genetic data, but also point out the many challenges to the model that need to be addressed before its validity can be accepted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Business Management: BEC 111 E & BEC 111
- Authors: Puchert, Juliet , Ford, Mari , Viljoen, Kim , Smith, E , Elliott, Roger , Rowles, M
- Date: 2012-06
- Subjects: Business management
- Language: English
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:17514 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1011117
- Description: Business Management BEC 111 E & BEC 111, main examination June 2012.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012-06
Contrasting habitat associations of imperilled endemic stream fishes from a global biodiversity hot spot
- Authors: Chakona, Albert , Swartz, Ernst R
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7148 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011850 , http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/12/19
- Description: Knowledge of the factors that drive species distributions provides a fundamental baseline for several areas of research including biogeography, phylogeography and biodiversity conservation. Data from 148 minimally disturbed sites across a large drainage system in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa were used to test the hypothesis that stream fishes have similar responses to environmental determinants of species distribution. Two complementary statistical approaches, boosted regression trees and hierarchical partitioning, were used to model the responses of four fish species to 11 environmental predictors, and to quantify the independent explanatory power of each predictor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012