Learning to teach in higher education in South Africa
- Authors: Council on Higher Education (South Africa) , Leibowitz, Brenda , Bozalek, Vivienne , Garraway, James , Herman, Nicoline , Jawitz, Jeff , Muhuro, Patricia , Ndebele, Clever , Quinn, Lynn , Van Schalkwyk, Susan , Vorster, Jo-Anne , Winberg, Chris
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66524 , vital:28958
- Description: publisher version , Preface by Prof Narend Baijnath: “Teaching and learning are never neutral. Every aspect is ideological in nature: from the admission of students, to the selection of curriculum content, to the adoption of learning materials, to the pedagogical approach, to the mode of assessment and the quality of the feedback. The form of disciplinary knowledge may vary from the more subjective and contentious to the more objective and broadly accepted, but teaching and learning remain highly political acts across all institutions, faculties and disciplines. So it is unsurprising that when a country undergoes major social change, ideological demands are placed on teaching and learning.” (HE Reviewed, CHE 2016 p.143). There are many and diverse influences on teaching and learning as a political act, from broad social movements that challenge what is taught, to the ways in which resources have historically been allocated, to the values and goals of different disciplines, and the more immediate institutional and faculty contexts in which they take place. Learning to teach in higher education in South Africa is a timely and well-researched contribution to understanding the influences of that more immediate layer, that is, of institutional contexts, on the professional learning of academics in their roles as teachers. It explores questions of whether it matters to the professional learning process whether one is teaching in a context in which resources are scarce, or whether the departmental leadership style is authoritarian, or whether an institution has a strong drive to increase research output. And if it matters, what are the implications for facilitating opportunities for academics to ‘learn to teach’ in higher education? Undertaken by a team of academic staff developers across eight institutional contexts, this research report offers a comprehensive, nuanced and theorised set of insights into the role that context plays in the ways in which academics learn to teach. Such insights can inform the development of professional learning initiatives at both the institutional and national policy levels. The report is one of the outcomes of a large-scale study carried out between 2011 and 2016, made possible by funding from the National Research Foundation. It has spawned many research articles, books and PhD studies (see Appendix One) and has thus in itself provided a vehicle for the development of further research and researchers on the subject. The team chose to work collaboratively, with all the possibilities and difficulties that that entails, as reflected on in Chapter 7. Thereby, it also offers an illuminating reflection and insights into such research methodology. While the report does not specifically set out to offer anything new or surprising about the cultural and contextual differences between institutions, it does offer a coherent interpretation of such complex and intersecting conditions examined through a single theoretical lens. Indeed, the concepts of ‘structure, culture and agency’ as developed in the work of the social realist, Margaret Archer, formed the theoretical canvas for the study. The theory allows for the analytical separation of different domains for the purposes of understanding the interplay of relations, but it also offers a hope of bringing about social transformation through exercising particular modes of reflexivity. As the report argues, quoting Archer, transforming our positions in society is possible, but “their transformation depends partly on the subjective reflexivity of primary agents in seeking to play an active part in reshaping society’s resource distribution”. The researchers may not always have found it easy to apply a single theoretical lens, but the theory based study provides a coherent representation of the differences and similarities between the institutional contexts of the eight universities, throwing into relief their different influences on professional learning, and points to pathways towards the improvement of teaching and learning in South African higher education. A major contribution of this report that is likely to influence the discourse on teaching and learning significantly, is the conceptual shift from ‘professional development’ to ‘professional learning’. As an external reviewer noted, “in the context of the decolonization debate, [this shift] has the potential to offer a more flexible continuum in which to position different learning opportunities”. It also recognises the importance of group and individual agency and the importance of informal contexts in learning to teach. 12 | Monitor 14 | Learning to Teach in Higher Education in South Africa The publication of this research report takes forward the CHE’s ongoing endeavours to improve and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. It serves to complement the more practical implementation of quality assurance in higher education, which for the CHE has largely entailed a focus on teaching and learning, whether in accreditation, audits or the Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) that began in 2014 in which one of the four focus areas that universities were asked to engage with was “enhancing academics as teachers”. Participation in the QEP over the past three years has contributed to a heightened awareness across the sector of the importance of academics developing competence in university teaching, particularly given the increased emphasis being placed on student success by both the government and higher education institutions themselves. As a result, universities are becoming more intentional in their efforts to help academics develop this competence. The release of the study is therefore timely, as not only will it add to our collective understanding of the complexities and nuances in the interrelationships between structure, culture and agency that inform and influence academics in their roles as teachers, but it will serve as a useful resource for institutions in their efforts to enhance university teachers and teaching. The Higher Education Monitor series, as was elaborated in the first issue in 2003, “aims to stimulate research and the production of knowledge and interpretive frameworks that could contribute to better theorisation of higher education, more rigorous analysis of higher education complexities and more effective strategies for change and progress”. It is our hope that this report will do exactly that. , We thank the National Research Foundation for funding the project that made the study and the ensuing report possible, Professor Brenda Leibowitz for leading the team of researchers, our external reviewers, and the individual authors who took the time to present drafts of their chapters to Dr Webbstock of the CHE at a workshop in May 2016.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Media and citizenship: between marginalisation and participation
- Authors: Garman, Anthea , Wasserman, Herman
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158383 , vital:40179 , ISBN 9780796925565
- Description: How central are the media to the functioning of democracy? Is democracy primarily about citizens using their vote? Does the expression of their voice necessarily empower citizens? Media and Citizenship challenges some assumptions about the relationship between the media and democracy in highly unequal societies like South Africa. In a post-apartheid society where an enfranchised majority is still unable to fundamentally practice their citizenship and experiences marginalization on a daily basis, notions like listening and belonging may be more useful ways of thinking about the role of the media. In this context, protest is taken seriously as a form of political expression and the media's role is foregrounded as actively seeking out the voices of those on the margins of society. Through a range of case studies, the contributors show how listening, both as a political concept and as a form of practice, has transformative and even radical potential for both emerging and established democracies.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Multilingualism and intercultural communication: a South African perspective
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Maseko, Pamela , Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67015 , vital:29019 , ISBN 9781776140275 , https://muse.jhu.edu/book/52741
- Description: publisher version , To date, there has been no published textbook which takes into account changing sociolinguistic dynamics that have influenced South African society. Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication breaks new ground in this arena. Its scope ranges from macro-sociolinguistic questions pertaining to language policies and their implementation (or non-implementation), to micro-sociolinguistic observations of actual language-use in verbal interaction, mainly in multilingual contexts of Higher Education (HE). There is a gradual move for the study of language and culture to be taught in the context of (professional) disciplines in which they would be used, such as Journalism and African languages, Education and African languages, etc. The book caters for this growing market. Because of its multilingual nature, it caters to English and Afrikaans language speakers, as well as the Sotho and Nguni language groups. It brings together various inter-linked disciplines such as Sociolinguistics and Applied Language Studies, Media Studies and Journalism, History and Education, Social and Natural Sciences, Law, Human Language Technology, Music, Intercultural Communication and Literary Studies. The unique cross-cutting disciplinary features of the book will make it a must-have for twenty-first century South African students and scholars and those interested in applied language issues.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Re-framing academic staff development
- Authors: Vorster, Jo-Anne , Quinn, Lynn
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66535 , vital:28960 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-983-6_8
- Description: publisher version , Globally higher education is situated in a supercomplex world (Barnett, 2000) that is constantly in a state of flux and subject to multiple pressures. This situation has been exacerbated in South African higher education that has been characterised by student protests in the last two years (2015–2016). One of the major causes for the recents protests, particularly in our institutional context, has been students’ anger that despite the official demise of apartheid and the end of colonial rule, some universities in South Africa are still attempting to be copies of Oxford and Harvard.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Strengthening postgraduate supervision
- Authors: McKenna, Sioux , Clarence-Fincham, Jenny , Boughey, Chrissie , Wels, Harry , Van den Heuvel, Henk
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66645 , vital:28975 , ISBN 9781928357322 , https://doi.10.18820/9781928357323
- Description: Preface: Since 1996 the number of students enrolled for Master’s study in South Africa has more than doubled, while doctoral enrolments have almost tripled (Cloete, Mouton and Sheppard 2015). Such enormous growth has had major implications for supervision, especially in a context where only 39% of academics have doctorates themselves. If South Africa is to come close to the National Development Plan target of 5 000 doctoral graduates per year by 2030, the pressure on supervisors is likely to continue apace. But supervision is of course not simply a matter of applying technical skills to churn out highly competent postgraduate scholars. It is a teaching craft coupled with research acumen and deep personal commitment. This book reflects on how a range of supervisors are making sense of this complex endeavour. The Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision book brings together 15 chapters written by 18 academics from 16 disciplines in 11 institutions. The authors work across all three institutional types found in higher education in South Africa: traditional universities, comprehensive universities and universities of technology. Through this rich array of contributions, supervision is presented never as a ‘best practice’ to be generically implemented but rather as a nuanced pedagogy to be nurtured through critical reflection. The chapters mix theoretical considerations of the postgraduate process and personal narratives of supervision practice. Most of the authors can be described as emerging supervisors, with a few contributions from more experienced supervisors, but all have in common a deep desire to forge inclusive environments that foster meaningful postgraduate research and nurture a new generation of scholars. It is through the sharing of these academics’ concerns and constraints, competencies and celebrations that this book adds to our understanding of postgraduate supervision in South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Technauriture as a platform to create an inclusive environment for the sharing of research
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67005 , vital:29016 , http://books.openedition.org/obp/4209
- Description: publisher version , From Introduction: This chapter examines the importance of orality in rural communities using the paradigm of technauriture, which describes how technology, auriture2and literature intersect to transmit educational and other messages within communities. It uses oral literary research that has been conducted in the Eastern Cape region to show how technology can aid the data collection process, and how this technology can return such information to the communities from which it comes. This chapter also explores the process of orality fostered by community meetings, oral histories, oral poetry, beadwork, music and story-telling, and how this culture interacts with the recording process facilitated by modern technology. It will also consider the return of recorded oral material to educational and archival circles. These objectives are pursued using empirical data collected at Tshani near Port St. Johns, an area falling within the Mankosi tribal authority in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. They are also considered in relation to the work of oral poet, Bongani Sitole who lived in Mqhekezweni village near Qunu and Mthatha, as well as against the backdrop of research conducted in Keiskammahoek, and at the Broster Beadwork Collection, now housed at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha.
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- Date Issued: 2017
The Kenyan banking industry: Challenges and sustainability
- Authors: Muriithi, Samuel M , Louw, Lynette
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69151 , vital:29433 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41090-6_1
- Description: This first chapter of the book aims to provide an overview of the key factors in knowledge and innovation management processes that are influencing and are influenced by the business environment in Africa. The chapter highlights the problematic of achieving a successful and sustainable business in Africa. It therefore outlines the various study programmes of cutting-edge research within different thematic areas such as innovation; entrepreneurship; education; capacity building; human capital; investment; and banking and finance. Finally, the chapter provides an executive summary of all the chapters included in the book.
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- Date Issued: 2017
The role of doctoral education in early career academic development
- Authors: Frick, Liezel , Albertyn, Ruth , Brodin, Eva , McKenna, Sioux , Claessson, Silwa
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66658 , vital:28978 , ISBN 9781928357216 , https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311427468/download
- Description: The social and economic significance of the doctorate is recognised across the world, as doctoral candidates are considered to be key contributors to the knowledge society by contributing to socio-economic development through innovation (Barnacle 2005; Taylor 2012). Doctoral students – regardless of their discipline – are expected to take part actively in the knowledge creation process at universities, and this is especially important for those who will remain in academia and continue to contribute in this way.1 But knowledge creation is a complex process. Knowledge creation at the doctoral level and beyond requires a comprehensive understanding of relevant knowledge, sound judgment, and the ability to advise with insight. Doctoral learning also includes aspects such as abstract reasoning, the ability to conceptualise, and problem solving. Thus, through the original contribution candidates are expected to create during the doctorate, they are supposed to become experts in their chosen field of study. This process has been described by Evans (2014) as disciplinary acculturation. Various authors (for example Danby & Lee 2012; Lin & Cranton 2005; Manathunga & Goozée 2007) point out that this process of becoming an expert is by no means easy or straightforward. Rather, developing as a scholar is a lifelong process in which moving from a novice to an expert is an essential rite of passage into academic practice (Dreyfus & Dreyfus 1986). Benmore (2014) states that for those pursuing academic careers, it involves coming to know, but also coming to be an academic. Such a process of becoming doctorate implies movement over time, progression, and transformation (Barnacle, 2005).
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- Date Issued: 2017
Waiting for happiness in Africa
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Roberts, Benjamin J , Tiliouine, Habib , Loschky, Jay
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67225 , vital:29061 , https://s3.amazonaws.com/sdsn-whr2017/HR17-Ch4_lr.pdf
- Description: publisher version , From Introduction: Are the people in Africa really among the least happy in the world? And if African countries do have a ‘happiness deficit’, what are the prospects of Africa achieving happiness in the near future? These are questions we shall try to address in this chapter. The World Happiness Report (WHR), published since 2012, has found that happiness is less evident in Africa than in other regions of the world. It reports Gallup World Poll (GWP) ratings of happiness, measured on the ‘ladder of life’, a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 indicating greatest happiness. On the map of the Geography of Happiness, published in an earlier World Happiness Report Update 2015, the happiest countries in the world are shaded green, the unhappiest red. Africa stands out as the unhappiest continent, being coloured almost entirely in shades of glaring red (See Fig. 4.1). In 2017, the WHR reports that average ladder scores for over four in five African countries are below the mid-point of the scale (see Fig. 4.2). And only two African countries have made significant gains in happiness over the past decade . There are also considerable inequalities in life evaluations in African countries, and this inequality in happiness has increased over the past years . In this chapter, we shall tentatively seek a number of explanations for the unhappiness on the African continent, which is home to about 16% of the world’s population. It will be no easy task to identify factors that may have shaped perceptions of well-being among the 1.2 billion African people who live in 54 nation states with different historical, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. Nonetheless, we shall attempt to describe some of the positive and negative experiences in the lives of people in African countries that likely impact on personal well-being. We shall also try to identify the prospects for change and development that could spell hope for increasing the happiness of African people in future.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Community Dialogues, stakeholders' process and experts' input - two detailed reports
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: South Africa -- History -- 20th century , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41348 , vital:36452 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016-10
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Conference Publication: Healing Through Heritage and Memorialisation
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: South Africa -- Politics and government , South Africa -- History -- 20th century , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41338 , vital:36451 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016-10
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Educational Programme (including a healing component)
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: South Africa -- History -- 20th century , South Africa -- Politics and government , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41358 , vital:36453 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
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- Date Issued: 2016-10
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Institutional structure, governance and management model (including a tool box to establish a legal entity and to manage an NPO)
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: South Africa -- History -- 20th century , South Africa -- Politics and government , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41368 , vital:36454 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
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- Date Issued: 2016-10
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Oral accounts of people affected by the 1990 Uprising
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: Government, Resistance to -- South Africa , South Africa -- History -- 20th century , South Africa -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41251 , vital:36422 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
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- Date Issued: 2016-10
Feasibility Study: Imagining A Cultural/Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay: Project introduction, historical overview, case studies and recommended sites
- Date: 2016-10
- Subjects: Government, Resistance to -- South Africa , South Africa -- History -- 20th century , South Africa -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41239 , vital:36420 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Northern Areas History and Heritage Project consists of a variety workshops and materials examining the history of this part of Port Elizabeth to which people of colour had been removed in the 1970s. The materials include a book and DVD on the Northern Areas Uprising; six booklets entitled ‘Feasibility Study: Imagining a Cultural/ Healing Centre for the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay’ covering topics such as the Northern Areas Uprising, healing through memorialisation, architecture, non-profit organisations, archives and databases; 35 DVDs consisting of interviews with individuals, communities and focus groups, as well as a Winter School Project on Apartheid and the Group Areas Act. Also included are two maps relating to the area’s history.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016-10
Alzheimer’s disease: making sense of the stress
- Authors: Whiteley, Chris G
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67072 , vital:29029 , http://www.smgebooks.com/alzheimers-disease/chapters/ALZD-16-08.pdf
- Description: publisher version , To facilitate a deep understanding of the mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease fundamental knowledge is required about the action and function of enzymes in the brain that not only metabolise arginine (neuronal nitric oxide synthase) but are closely associated with oxidative (superoxide dismutase; catalase; glutathione peroxidase) and/or nitrosative stress. In particular the focus extends towards enzymes that contribute to amyloid peptide aggregation and senile plaquedeposits (fibrillogenesis). Of special importance are the glycine zipper regions within these amyloid peptides, especially Aβ25-29 and Aβ29-33 (that contains two isoleucine residues) and the pentapeptide Aβ17-21 (that contains two phenylalanines), each generated by enzymatic cleavage of the intramembrane amyloid precursor protein. Use of antisense-sense technology has identified regions in each enzyme that are capable of binding with the amyloid peptides. After an initial inhibition of each enzyme there is an oligomerisation into soluble fibrils which accumulate and eventually precipitate. The use of nanoparticles do not just prevent but reverse the formation of these fibrils either by disrupting the binary adduct – enzyme-Aβ-peptide- or by reaction with, and therefore deplete, Aβ-monomers in solution and so block potential aggregation sites on the enzyme itself. Future therapy towards Alzheimer’s disease should target the C-terminal region of the amyloid precursor protein and substitute hydrophobic residues for the glycine amino acids within the glycine zipper region.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Changing practices, changing values?: a Bernsteinian analysis of knowledge production and knowledge exchange in two UK universities
- Authors: Little, Brenda , Abbas, Andrea , Singh, Mala
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66934 , vital:29002 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7369-0_8
- Description: publisher version , Bernstein’s concept of classification and framing links notions of knowledge, democracy and social justice, providing a perspective from which to address critical questions of what knowledge is produced, who has access to it, and how knowledge is distributed. Bernstein’s conceptual framework is used to inform an analysis of national policies steering knowledge production and knowledge transfer in the UK, and the changing practices and values associated with knowledge production and knowledge transfer in two UK institutional case study universities. The analysis reveals how reputational and financial consequences of the formal assessment of research quality interacts with the institutional and disciplinary contexts of research units to differently shape what knowledge is valued and produced, and with whom it is shared. Five discursive areas, each involving a complex set of classifications (power) and framings (control) are identified, namely: the national research assessment framework; the economic value of research; discourses of social and academic values; academic freedoms; and mixed-discipline research and the interdisciplinary nature of real world problems. Though competing and sometimes contradictory values seem to underlie academics’ knowledge work, it seems that the strong framing for knowledge production and knowledge exchange provided by national policies steers staff efforts towards economised codes of knowledge. The conclusion suggests that such a strong steer does not value social transformation in all its diverse non-economistic dimensions and limits universities’ potential to transform societies to further social justice.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Geospatial technologies and indigenous Knowledge Systems:
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145448 , vital:38439 , ISBN 9781315181523 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315181523/chapters/10.1201/9781315181523-18
- Description: During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, pressure on coastal ecosystems has amplified and resulted in the widespread degradation of adjacent marine and terrestrial habitats globally (Burke et al., 2001). The ecosystem services provided by coastal habitats, including coastal protection and food procurement, have been heavily compromised by anthropogenic disturbance such as overfishing, pollution, sedimentation and alteration of coastal vegetation (Costanza et al., 1997; Agardy et al., 2009). In the context of small islands, this continued degradation in tandem with the ongoing effects of climate change is putting the livelihoods of coastal peoples at risk (e.g. Bell et al., 2009). While international efforts at curtailing these negative trends are ongoing, many researchers are working directly with coastal local/ indigenous communities to seek more effective management of coastal terrestrial and marine resources. Among various approaches, researchers are increasingly incorporating local knowledge systems for designing resource management and conservation plans (e.g. Gadgil et al., 1993).
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- Date Issued: 2016
Heat shock protein inhibitors: success stories
- Authors: McAlpine, Shelli R , Edkins, Adrienne L
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66359 , vital:28940 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32607-8
- Description: publisher version , Introduction: Medicinal chemistry is both science and art. The science of medicinal chemistry offers mankind one of its best hopes for improving the quality of life. The art of medicinal chemistry continues to challenge its practitioners with the need for both intuition and experience to discover new drugs. Hence sharing the experience of drug research is uniquely beneficial to the field of medicinal chemistry. Drug research requires interdisciplinary team-work at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine. Therefore, the topic-related series Topics in Medicinal Chemistry covers all relevant aspects of drug research, e.g. pathobiochemistry of diseases, identification and validation of (emerging) drug targets, structural biology, drugability of targets, drug design approaches, chemogenomics, synthetic chemistry including combinatorial methods, bioorganic chemistry, natural compounds, high-throughput screening, pharmacological in vitro and in vivo investigations, drug-receptor interactions on the molecular level, structure-activity relationships, drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicology and pharmacogenomics. In general, special volumes are edited by well known guest editors. , This work is based on the research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant No 98566), the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), Medical Research Council South Africa (MRC-SA) and Rhodes University. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the DST, NRF, CANSA, MRC-SA or Rhodes University. We apologize if we have inadvertently missed any important contributions to the field.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Introduction: the multilingual context of education in Africa
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174849 , vital:42515 , ISBN 978-0415315760 , https://www.amazon.com/Multilingual-Education-Africa-Practices-Routledge/dp/041531576X
- Description: The common thread in this book is the exploration of innovative pedagogies in language teaching and language use in education. The greatest danger facing educators is one of complacency. Whether set in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, South Africa or elsewhere in Africa, all the chapters in this book emphasise the imperative for educators to constantly revise curricula and teaching methods in order to find the most appropriate ways of teaching and using language in multilingual settings.
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- Date Issued: 2016