Transforming while transferring: An exploratory study of how transferability of skills is key in the transformation of higher education
- Authors: Bazana, Sandiso , McLaren, Logan , Kabungaidze, Trust
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453793 , vital:75286 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-102f9d32bf"
- Description: The importance of skills within the transformation of higher education is a crucial factor that has been insufficiently considered. Transformation in terms of higher education forms a fundamental part of the post-apartheid South African society. This transformation movement seems to exclude the possible role and contributions of the older generation of academics. Using a social constructionist viewpoint, this qualitative study sought to bring to the debate of transformation of higher education the important question of skills transferability between older generation academics and the new generation. From interviewing five retired white academics, the study found that institutional culture and implementation of labour legislation through the Human Resources department by the university in question affect the transferability of skills and that proper programmes of voluntary mentorship should be put in place as to allow the growth of both the older generation and new generation academics. The use of new generation academics’ perspectives could yield more results and findings that can further this area of study, as well as allow a more diverse and richer understanding of the perception of skills transferability within the transformation of higher education institutions. This further understanding for research is needed to emphasise the importance of knowledge production through the integration of both young academics’ as well as older academics’ perspectives. This is to be achieved by engaging with other universities and academics, so that a broader analysis of skills transferability within higher education can be understood.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Authors: Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/184768 , vital:44270 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-98c37d47c"
- Description: It is an honour and a pleasure to report on the activities of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences since the PSSA AGM in 2016. The Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (APSSA) held their 37th Annual Conference and 38th Annual General Meeting at the All African Congress on Pharmacology and Pharmacy. The conference was jointly organised by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of South Africa (APSSA), the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (SASBCP) on behalf of Pharmacology for Africa (Pharfa) and the Toxicology Society of South Africa (ToxSA). The annual APSSA conference was hosted by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology under the leadership of Dr Ilze Vermaak and was held from 5-8 October 2016 at Misty Hills Conference Centre, situated close to the Cradle of Humankind.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Feature-fusion guidelines for image-based multi-modal biometric fusion
- Authors: Brown, Dane L , Bradshaw, Karen L
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465689 , vital:76632 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-90afb1388"
- Description: The feature level, unlike the match score level, lacks multi-modal fusion guidelines. This work demonstrates a new approach for improved image-based biometric feature-fusion. The approach extracts and combines the face, fingerprint and palmprint at the feature level for improved human identification accuracy. Feature-fusion guidelines, proposed in our recent work, are extended by adding a new face segmentation method and the support vector machine classifier. The new face segmentation method improves the face identification equal error rate (EER) by 10%. The support vector machine classifier combined with the new feature selection approach, proposed in our recent work, outperforms other classifiers when using a single training sample. Feature-fusion guidelines take the form of strengths and weaknesses as observed in the applied feature processing modules during preliminary experiments. The guidelines are used to implement an effective biometric fusion system at the feature level, using a novel feature-fusion methodology, reducing the EER of two groups of three datasets namely: SDUMLA face, SDUMLA fingerprint and IITD palmprint; MUCT Face, MCYT Fingerprint and CASIA Palmprint.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Social Identities and Racial Integration in Historically White Universities: A Literature Review of the Experiences of Black Students
- Authors: Bazana, Sandiso , Mogotsi, Opelo P
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453760 , vital:75284 , xlink:href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1187144.pdf"
- Description: South African government has been promulgating pieces of legislation aimed at ensuring racial integration, especially in higher education, and indirectly enforcing acculturation in historically white universities. Studies have proven that institutional cultures in historically white universities alienate and exclude black students' identities. These students' sense of social identity, which includes culture, heritage, language and traditions, and consequently self-esteem and self-concept, is altered in these institutions. Research has been scant regarding the shape and form that black students' identity assumes when they get to these spaces. Using Tajfel and Turner's (1979) social identity theory and Berry's (2005) theory of acculturation, this article explores the experiences of black students in negotiating their social identities in historically white universities. Evoking Steve Biko's analysis of 'artificial integration' (1986), we hope to illustrate how the 'integration'.
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- Date Issued: 2017
The contradictory conceptions of research in historically black universities
- Authors: Muthama, Evelyn , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187183 , vital:44577 , xlink:href="http://dx.doi. org/10.18820/2519593X/pie. v35i1.10"
- Description: Research is conceptualised in multiple and contradictory ways within and across Historically Black Universities (HBUs) with consequences for knowledge production. Under the apartheid regime, research was deliberately underdeveloped in such institutions and this continues to have an impact. We argue that if HBUs are to move from the constraints of the past into the possibilities of the future, there is a need for a thorough understanding both of how research is currently conceptualised, and of the consequences of such conceptions for research output. We used a critical discourse analysis of interviews, documents and survey data from seven HBUs to identify the dominant discourses about the purposes of research. The findings are four dominant conceptions of research that sometimes contradict each other across and within the HBUs. These are research as integral to academic identity; research for social justice; research as an economic driver and research as an instrumentalist requirement for job security, promotion and incentives. These conceptions seemed to emerge in part because of the history of the institutions and create both constraining and enabling effects on research production.
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- Date Issued: 2017
West African arthropods hold promise as biological control agents for an invasive tree in the Pacific Islands
- Authors: Paterson, Iain D , Paynter, Quentin , Neser, Stefan , Akpabey, Felix J , Compton, Stephen G , Orapa, W
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/407119 , vital:70338 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-639c91613"
- Description: African tulip tree, Spathodea campanulata Beauv. (Bignoniaceae), is a large tree of secondary forests, forest edges and savannas that is indigenous to Central and West Africa (Bidgood 1994). It has been widely utilised as an ornamental plant due to its beautiful flowers, fast growth and relative ease of cultivation, as a shade tree in parks and coffee plantations, and as a living fencepost (Francis 1990). Naturalisation has often followed cultivation of the plant, which is now established outside of the native range in Africa (Hedberg et al. 2006), the Caribbean (Francis 1990; Labrada and Medina 2009) and many Pacific islands (Meyer 2004), including Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga,Vanuatu and Tahiti (Lowe et al. 2000; Dovey et al. 2004; Labrada and Medina 2009). On some of these islands it has become a destructive weed, invading indigenous forests and having a severe impact on agricultural production (Labrada and Medina 2009; Larrue et al. 2014). This has resulted in African tulip tree being recognised as one of the 100 worst alien invasive species worldwide, along with only 30 other terrestrial plants (Lowe et al. 2000).
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- Date Issued: 2017
Schools performing against the odds
- Authors: Niacker, Inbanathan , Grant, Carolyn , Pillay, Sivanandani
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281126 , vital:55694 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v36n4a1321"
- Description: There are many schools in developing countries which, despite the challenges they face, defy the odds and continue to perform at exceptionally high levels. We cast our gaze on one of these resilient schools in South Africa, and sought to learn about the leadership practices prevalent in this school and the enablements and constraints to the school leadership practice. Underpinned by a critical realist lens, and drawing on social realist theory, this case study of one school generated data through interviews, observation, document analysis and transect walks. The school principal, one head of department and two teachers, were selected as participants. The findings indicate that the school embraced an expansive form of teacher leadership comprising leadership within and beyond the classroom. Further, the structural, cultural and agential climate was receptive to the expansive leadership. We conclude that the professional capital of teachers, together with teachers serving as social actors rather than remaining primary agents, are key resources to change and transformation in an emerging economy.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Screening of entomopathogenic fungi against citrus mealybug, Plannococcus citri (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)
- Authors: Chartier FitzGerald, Veronique C , Hill, Martin P , Moore, Sean D , Dames, Joanna F
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/407059 , vital:70333 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC195093"
- Description: Planococcus citri (citrus mealybug) is a common and damaging citrus crop pest which has proven difficult to control using conventional methods, such as chemical pesticides and insect growth regulators, particularly late in the citrus growing season. The virulence of two entomopathogenic fungal species was studied in laboratory bioassays against the crawlers and adults of P. citri. Isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana, collected from citrus orchards in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, were verified using and molecular techniques. Mealybug bioassays were performed in 24-well plates. Beauveria bassiana (GAR 17 B3) and M. anisopliae (FCM AR 23 B3) isolates both resulted in 67.5 % mortality of mealybug crawlers and B. bassiana (GB AR 23 13 3) resulted in 64 % crawler mortality with concentrations of 1 x 107 conidia/ml. These three isolates were further tested in multipledose bioassays to determine the median lethal concentration (LC50), which were 5.29 x 105conidia/ml for the M. anisopliae isolate (FCM AR 23 B3), 4.25 x 106 conidia/ml for B. bassiana (GAR 17 B3), and 6.65 x 107 conidia/ml B. bassiana (GB AR 23 13 3) for crawlers, respectively. The results of this study suggested that two isolates (M. anisopliae FCM AR 23 B3 and B. bassiana GAR 17 B3) showed potential for further development as biological control agents against citrus mealybug. Further research would be required to determine their ability to perform under field conditions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Sentential negation in South African Sign Language: A case study
- Authors: De Barros, Courtney , Siebörger, Ian
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/385377 , vital:68013 , xlink:href=" https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-4acb542a9"
- Description: As with other sign languages, South African Sign Language (SASL) expresses negation using both manual and non-manual features. In this case study, naturalistic data provided by two native signers of SASL are analysed to show the syntactic relationship between these two sets of features. Using a Principles and Parameters approach and Government and Binding Theory, we investigate the syntactic scope of negation in our SASL data. We observe that side-to-side headshake, as a non-manual feature, appears to be the chief clausal negator in SASL, with a clause-final manual negative particle, NOT, playing a secondary role. We describe the negative headshake as a featural affix which is base-generated in the head of NegP and triggers V-to- Neg raising. The negative particle NOT appears to be base-generated in the Specifier of NegP. Suggestions for further syntactic research on SASL are provided.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The impact of shift work on the health and wellbeing of campus security guards
- Authors: Bazana, Sandiso , Campbell, Kerry , Kabungaidze, Trust
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453779 , vital:75285 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-ccdf3bd65"
- Description: The health and wellbeing of campus security guards continues to be ignored in academia particularly by the researchers and by those who employ these guards. The main aim of the study was to gain a clearer understanding of the impact of shift work on the health and wellbeing of campus security guards. The evidence from the study clarifies what many other researchers’ have revealed about the negative impact of shift work on the health and wellbeing of employees. However, more specifically, the study revealed five issues around how shift work has an impact on the health and wellbeing of campus security guards. These issues were deduced through the application of semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. The study showed that shift work has an impact on a number of underlying factors such as disrupted family lives and religious gatherings; limited control leading to stress; working conditions’ impact on health; and disturbed sleeping patterns. All of these had a role in decreasing employees’ job performance and ultimately impacting on the organisation’s effectiveness. Apart from regulation, the study calls on government to be more involved in the health and wellbeing of the South African workforce, especially security guards. The study makes a number of suggestions to that effect.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Agathis bishopi, a larval parasitoid of false codling moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta: laboratory rearing and effect of adult food on parasitism and longevity
- Authors: Zimba, Kennedy J , Moore, Sean D , Heshula, Lelethu U P , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/406985 , vital:70328 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC185849"
- Description: Agathis bishopi (Nixon) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a koinobiont larval endoparasitoid of false codling moth (FCM), Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a pest of economic importance on citrus in South Africa. In the field Agathis bishopi was found to parasitise up to 34 % of FCM larvae in fruit, reflecting reasonable biocontrol potential. Improving the rearing of A. bishopi would therefore complement the existing biocontrol strategies for FCM. In several parasitic wasps, sugar concentration and feeding duration has been shown to influence parasitism and longevity. However, their effect on parasitism and longevity of A. bishopi is unknown. In the present study a rearing protocol for A. bishopi is described, including evaluation of the effects of honey concentration on parasitoid longevity. On average, 18.2%of FCM larvae in rearing containers were parasitised under the rearing protocol described. Cotton wool, instead of paper towelling, as honey carrier for feeding parasitoids in rearing containers significantly increased parasitism and yield of offspring. Furthermore, longevity significantly increased with higher concentrations of honey. Maximum lifespan duration for male and female parasitoids was achieved when parasitoids were fed on 36 % (w/v) honey. Results from this study indicate that A. bishopi requires a sufficient concentration of sugar, coupled with frequent and prolonged feeding on a cotton wool substrate, in order to achieve maximum parasitism and longevity. Such information provides a basis for optimising mass-rearing and longevity of A. bishopi and parasitism of FCM in orchards.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Beauveria and Metarhizium against false codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): a step towards selecting isolates for potential development of a mycoinsecticide
- Authors: Coombes, Candice A , Hill, Martin P , Moore, Sean D , Dames, Joanna F , Fullard, T
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405757 , vital:70203 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC167505"
- Description: False codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta Meyrick (1912) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), can cause both pre- and post-harvest damage to citrus fruit. Not only can this result in reduced crop yield, but more importantly because of the moth's endemism to sub-Saharan Africa, it is classified as a phytosanitary pest by many export markets. An entire consignment of citrus may be rejected in the presence of a single moth (Moore 2012). Since the bulk of citrus fruit production in South Africa is exported, the control of T. leucotreta is critical (Citrus Growers Association, South Africa 2012). Traditionally, control has been achieved through the use of chemical insecticides; however, residue restrictions, resistance development and concerns about environmental pollution have substantially reduced the dependence on chemical pesticides in citrus. Research on T. leucotreta control has therefore focused on the use of biological organisms (e.g. parasitoids and viruses), which are used as control agents within an integrated pest management (IPM) programme in citrus. These biological control agents, however, only targeted the aboveground life stages of the pest, not the soil-dwelling life stages (late fifth instars, prepupae, pupae), which is the subject of this contribution (Moore 2012).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Book Review Growing the next generation of researchers: A handbook for emerging researchers and their mentors, Holness, L
- Authors: Motshoane, Puleng , Muthama, Evelyn , McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187205 , vital:44579 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.14426/cristal.v3i2.56"
- Description: South Africa urgently needs more researchers (NRF, 2008; NDP, 2011). We also need a transformation in the demographics of our researchers. One indicator of this is that currently only 14% of university professors are black African, and only 2% are black African females (DHET, 2012). The Staffing South Africa's Universities Framework includes a number of initiatives to drive the process of growing the next generation of academics. For example, the nGAP project has inserted 125 new posts into the higher education system in 2015, with more to follow. This project allows for new academics to undertake postgraduate study and develop as teachers and researchers through mentorship, a reduced teaching load and so on.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
DNA-based identification of Lepidoptera associated with citrus in South Africa
- Authors: Marsberg, Tamryn , Hill, Martin P , Moore, Sean D , Timm, Alicia E
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405782 , vital:70205 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC167513"
- Description: A number of insects, primarily Lepidoptera, cause damage to citrus in South Africa. A major limitation to the management and control of these pests is their correct identification. The aim of this study was to develop a database of gene sequences to aid in the identification of these Lepidoptera. Multiple specimens of 12 species were sequenced for the ~650 bp of the cytochrome oxidase I gene. These sequence data were supplemented and validated using sequences available in public databases. Results showed that each species could be unambiguously identified, and neighbour-joining analysis based on K2P distances formed highly supported, distinct clusters for each species, i.e. the maximum intraspecific genetic distance was less than that of the minimum interspecific genetic distances. Thus, this data set provides a molecular means to successfully identify the most important Lepidoptera associated with citrus in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Host searching and oviposition behaviour of Agathis bishopi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a larval parasitoid of false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): a potential proxy indicator for fruit infestation
- Authors: Zimba, Kennedy J , Heshula, Lelethu U P , Moore, Sean D , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/407019 , vital:70330 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC195073"
- Description: Agathis bishopi (Nixon) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)is an arrhenotokous larval endoparasitoid of Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) (Gendall 2007; Hofmeyr et al. 2015) commonly known as false codling moth (FCM), a major pest of citrus in South Africa (Moore et al. 2004; Malan et al. 2011). Under field conditions, A. bishopi was identified attacking more than 34% of FCM larvae in fruit, showing good biocontrol potential (Gendall 2007). Preference by A. bishopi for parasitising the early instars of its concealed host suggests that the parasitoid has strong natural host location ability (Sishuba 2003; Gendall 2007).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The women of Willowvale-crafting livelihoods from the wild date palm
- Authors: Mjoli, Nwabisa , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182322 , vital:43820 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC185235"
- Description: The Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape is renowned for its cultural landscapes, stunning scenery and remarkable biodiversity. It is also one of the least developed regions of South Africa, which underpins the small productive base and limited economic opportunities for the hundreds of rural communities scattered along the hilltops. It is not surprising therefore, that many inhabitants make extensive use of natural resources, such as firewood, reed mats, medicinal plants and wild vegetables, in their daily lives, as well as for sources of income when the opportunity arises.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Trophic relationships of hake (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) and sharks (Centrophorus squamosus, Deania calcea and D. profundorum) in the Northern (Namibia) Benguela Current region
- Authors: Iitembu, J A , Richoux, Nicole B
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/457418 , vital:75636 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC183122"
- Description: The trophic relationships of two hake species (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) and three shark species (Centrophorus squamosus, Deania calcea and D. profundorum) were investigated using nitrogen and carbon stable isotope signatures (15N and 13C) of their muscle tissues. The sharks were more enriched in 15N than the hake, an indication of the apex predator status of sharks. Among the sharks considered, C. squamosus occupied the highest trophic level and fed primarily on benthic prey. The two species of shark from the genus Deania were not different based on 15N or 13C, so they had similar diets. The 13C signatures indicated that M. capensis and sharks fed on prey derived from similar basal resources. However, there was a significant difference in 13C between M. paradoxus and all other species examined, suggesting that they occupied different feeding niches. Isotope-based populationmetrics showed narrower trophic ranges in sharks than M. capensis. Carbon and nitrogen ranges indicated that hake fed on a more diverse pool of carbon sources and had generally more enhanced trophic diversity in their feeding patterns than sharks. Among the species considered, C. squamosus occupied a unique isotopic space. Our results supported the hypothesis there are trophic overlaps among these species, but some interesting differentiation was revealed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
A promising biological control agent for the invasive alien plant, Pereskia aculeata Miller (Cactaceae), in South Africa
- Authors: Paterson, Iain D , Mdodana, Lumka A , Mpekula, Ongezwa , Mabunda, Bheki D , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416806 , vital:71387 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2014.919439"
- Description: Pereskia aculeata Miller (Cactaceae) is an invasive alien plant from Central and South America that has become a problematic environmental weed in South Africa. A potential biological control agent, the stem-wilter, Catorhintha schaffneri Brailovsky and Garcia (Coreidae), was collected in southern Brazil and imported into quarantine in South Africa. Field host range data suggested that C. schaffneri has a host range restricted to P. aculeata. No-choice nymph survival tests were then conducted on 27 test plant species in 9 families. Survival to the adult stage was only recorded on P. aculeata and the closely related Pereskia grandifolia Haw. (Cactaceae). Mortality was significantly higher on P. grandifolia with only 3% of the nymphs reaching the adult stage compared with 74% on P. aculeata indicating that P. aculeata is the primary host plant. P. grandifolia is native in South America and is of no agricultural importance in South Africa so any feeding on P. grandifolia in South Africa would have no negative environmental or economic consequences. In other tests, adult survival on P. aculeata [25.8 days (SE ± 3.74)] was significantly longer than on other test plant species [4.3 days (SE ± 0.36)] further confirming the host specificity of the species. Impact studies conducted in quarantine indicated that C. schaffneri is damaging to P. aculeata, significantly reducing the number of leaves and the shoot lengths of plants, even at relatively low insect densities. C. schaffneri is safe for release in South Africa and is likely to be a damaging and effective agent.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Comparison of the biology of geographically distinct populations of the citrus pest, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick)(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
- Authors: Opoku-Debrah, John K , Hill, Martin P , Knox, Caroline M , Moore, Sean D
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405769 , vital:70204 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC160246"
- Description: Baculovirus biopesticides are an important component of integrated pest management programmes worldwide. One such example is the Cryptophlebia leucotreta granulovirus (CrleGV) which is used for the control of false codling moth, Thaumatotibia (= Cryptophlebia) leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a pest of citrus and other crops in South Africa. A potential problem associated with constant application of viral biopesticides is the differing susceptibility to the virus observed between different geographic populations of the insect host. This could be related to a number of factors, including biological performance and fitness of the target insect population. This study compared a variety of phenotypic traits between geographically distinct T. leucotreta populations collected from the Addo, Marble Hall, Citrusdal and Nelspruit regions of South Africa, and reared under laboratory conditions for several generations. Traits including pupal mass, female fecundity, egg hatch, pupal survival, adult eclosion and developmental time were used as parameters to measure biological performance and fitness. Insects from the Citrusdal region of the Western Cape exhibited significantly lower pupal mass, female fecundity, egg hatch, pupal survival, adult eclosion and the longest duration in larval and pupal development compared to the other colonies investigated. This is the first study to report differences in the performance of laboratory reared T. leucotreta from different geographic locations, and the findings may have important implications for the application of viral biopesticides for the control of this pest in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Higher education studies as a field of research
- Authors: McKenna, Sioux
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187405 , vital:44631 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC161436"
- Description: The field of Higher Education Studies is a rapidly growing one in South Africa and abroad but there has been little systematic review of the form this growth is taking. This article presents a case study of higher education research by considering a newly formed Higher Education Studies doctoral programme. The programme comprises 29 PhD scholars in 2014, all engaged in research on some aspect of higher education. The description of the PhD programme, the PhD scholars and what their research topics are, reveals a picture of the broad range of concerns within the field of Higher Education Studies and suggests that the field is a region, in Bernstein's terms. This means that it draws on multiple disciplines and looks both to the values and structures of those disciplines and to the professional world of work. It is argued that the strengthening of the epistemological base of Higher Education Studies is necessary for higher education research to move forwards with enhanced relational and positional autonomy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014