(Unused) potentials of educators’ covert language policies at public schools in Limpopo, South Africa:
- Authors: Kretzer, Michael M , Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174679 , vital:42500 , DOI: 10.1039/D0PP00075B
- Description: Language policy is an influencing factor of the educational outcome for pupils in Africa. Colonial languages have been largely used and African Languages are neglected. Despite this, the South African Constitution (1996) declares eleven official languages. However, curricular developments favour Afrikaans and English. To analyse the implementation of the official language policy, we focus on Limpopo Province. Over 1000 questionnaires were answered by teachers. This approach aimed to analyse the language practices and language attitudes of teachers. Schools in Limpopo showed significant differences between the official language policy and the daily language practices. Some teachers implement the official language policy; others use one or more African languages in their oral communications during the lessons in the form of Code Switching.
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- Date Issued: 2020
A search for enhanced photodynamic activity against Staphylococcus aureus planktonic cells and biofilms: the evaluation of phthalocyanine–detonation nanodiamond–Ag nanoconjugates
- Authors: Openda, Yolande Ikala , Matshitse, Refilwe , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163825 , vital:41073 , DOI: 10.1039/D0PP00075B
- Description: The present work reports on the synthesis and characterization of novel zinc (2) and indium (3) 2-amino-4-bromophenoxy substituted phthalocyanines (Pcs) along with the self-assembled nanoconjugates formed via π–π stacking interaction onto detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) to form 2@DNDs and 3@DNDs. 2@DNDs and 3@DNDs were covalently linked to chitosan–silver mediated nanoparticles (CSAg) to form 2@DNDs-CSAg and 3@DNDs-CSAg nanoconjugates. High singlet oxygen quantum yields in DMSO of 0.69 and 0.72 for Pcs alone and 0.90 and 0.92 for 2@DNDs-CSAg and 3@DNDs-CSAg, respectively, were obtained.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Evaluating Feruloyl Esterase—Xylanase Synergism for Hydroxycinnamic Acid and Xylo-Oligosaccharide Production from Untreated, Hydrothermally Pre-Treated and Dilute-Acid Pre-Treated Corn Cobs:
- Authors: Mkabayi, Lithalethu , Malgas, Samkelo , Wilhelmi, Brendan S , Pletschke, Brett I
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149240 , vital:38818 , https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10050688
- Description: Agricultural residues are considered the most promising option as a renewable feedstock for biofuel and high valued-added chemical production due to their availability and low cost. The efficient enzymatic hydrolysis of agricultural residues into value-added products such as sugars and hydroxycinnamic acids is a challenge because of the recalcitrant properties of the native biomass. Development of synergistic enzyme cocktails is required to overcome biomass residue recalcitrance, and achieve high yields of potential value-added products. In this study, the synergistic action of two termite metagenome-derived feruloyl esterases (FAE5 and FAE6), and an endo-xylanase (Xyn11) from Thermomyces lanuginosus, was optimized using 0.5% (w/v) insoluble wheat arabinoxylan (a model substrate) and then applied to 1% (w/v) corn cobs for the efficient production of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) and hydroxycinnamic acids.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Exploring intermolecular contacts in multi-substituted benzaldehyde derivatives: X-ray, Hirshfeld surface and lattice energy analyses
- Authors: Hulushe, Siya T , Manyeruke, Meloddy H , Louzada, Marcel , Rigin, Sergei , Hosten, Eric C , Watkins, Gareth M
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148483 , vital:38743 , DOI: 10.1039/C9RA10752E
- Description: Crystal structures of six benzaldehyde derivatives (1–6) have been determined and their supramolecular networks were established by an X-ray crystallographic study. The study has shown that the compounds are linked by various intermolecular interactions such as weak C–H⋯O hydrogen bonding, and C–H⋯π, π–π and halogen bonding interactions which consolidate and strengthen the formation of these molecular assemblies. The carbonyl group generates diverse synthons in 1–6 via intermolecular C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds. An interplay of C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds, and C–H⋯π and π–π stacking interactions facilitates the formation of multi-dimensional supramolecular networks. Crystal packings in 4 and 5 are further generated by type I halogen⋯halogen bonding interactions. The differences in crystal packing are represented by variation of substitution positions in the compounds. Structure 3 is isomorphous with 4 but there are subtle differences in their crystal packing.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Holistic nursing in practice: mindfulness-based yoga as an intervention to manage stress and burnout
- Authors: Hilcove, Kelly , Marceau, Catherine , Thekdi, Prachi , Larkey, Linda , Brewer, Melanie A , Jones, Kerry
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149336 , vital:38826 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1177/0898010120921587
- Description: Effects of a mindfulness-based (MB) yoga practice on stress, burnout, and indicators of well-being among nurses and health care professionals (HCPs).
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- Date Issued: 2020
Introduction:
- Authors: Bischoff, Paul, 1954-
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/161700 , vital:40655 , ISBN 9780367348281 , https://www.routledge.com/African-Foreign-Policies-Selecting-Signifiers-to-Explain-Agency/Bischoff/p/book/9780367348281
- Description: This book explores, at a time when several powers have become serious players on the continent, aspects of African agency, past and present, by African writers on foreign policy, representative of geography, language and state size.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Maximal-entropy initial state of the Universe as a microscopic description of inflation:
- Authors: Brustein, Ram , Medved, A J M
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149682 , vital:38874 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1103/PhysRevD.101.123502
- Description: We propose that the initial state of the Universe was an isotropic state of maximal entropy. Such a state can be described in terms of a state of closed, interacting, fundamental strings in their high-temperature Hagedorn phase, which constitutes a novel microscopic model for the state of the Universe when it is at the highest sustainable temperature. This state resolves the big-bang singularity by replacing the past of the hot big-bang Universe and sets inflationary initial conditions for the subsequent evolution of the thermal radiation and the semiclassical cosmological geometry. The entropy density in this state is equal to the square root of the energy density in Planck units, while the pressure is positive and equal to the energy density.
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- Date Issued: 2020
New directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology:
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179028 , vital:40101 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/aman.13380
- Description: Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid‐1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss their potential contribution to a public and actionable anthropology/scholarship that can better inform fisheries management and conservation. This is important because in the twenty‐first century, coastal peoples are facing socioeconomic and environmental challenges that are increasingly becoming hazardous. To create a more actionable discipline, anthropology needs to be more accessible, inform innovation, and recapture a more pluralistic scholarship that champions interdisciplinary work. This will require the consilience between the humanities and natural sciences for studying human–marine interactions more broadly and for protecting the marine environment.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Passphrase and Keystroke Dynamics Authentication: Usable Security
- Authors: Bhana, Bhaveer , Flowerday, Stephen
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158372 , vital:40178 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101925
- Description: It was found that employees spend a total of 2.25 days within 60 days on password-related activities. The time consumed by this is unproductive and has a negative impact on usability. The problem is caused by current text-based user authentication policies in use. This study aims to address this research problem by assessing the effectiveness of a proposed two-tier user authentication solution involving passphrases and keystroke dynamics.
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- Date Issued: 2020
The Effects of Alkaline Pretreatment on Agricultural Biomasses (Corn Cob and Sweet Sorghum Bagasse) and Their Hydrolysis by a Termite-Derived Enzyme Cocktail:
- Authors: Mafa, Mpho S , Malgas, Samkelo , Bhattacharya, Abhishek , Rashamuse, Konanani , Pletschke, Brett I
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/160273 , vital:40430 , https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10081211
- Description: Sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB) and corncob (CC) have been identified as promising feedstocks for the production of second-generation biofuels and other value-added chemicals. In this study, lime (Ca(OH)2) and NaOH pretreatment efficacy for decreasing recalcitrance from SSB and CC was investigated, and subsequently, the pretreated biomass was subjected to the hydrolytic action of an in-house formulated holocellulolytic enzyme cocktail (HEC-H). Compositional analysis revealed that SSB contained 29.34% lignin, 17.75% cellulose and 16.28% hemicellulose, while CC consisted of 22.51% lignin, 23.58% cellulose and 33.34% hemicellulose. Alkaline pretreatment was more effective in pretreating CC biomass compared to the SSB biomass.
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- Date Issued: 2020
The establishment and rapid spread of Sagittaria Platyphylla in South Africa:
- Authors: Ndlovu, Mpilonhle S , Coetzee, Julie A , Nxumalo, Menzi M , Lalla, Reshnee , Shabalala, Ntombifuthi , Martin, Grant D
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149788 , vital:38884 , https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051472
- Description: Sagittaria platyphylla Engelm. (Alismataceae) is a freshwater aquatic macrophyte that has become an important invasive weed in freshwater systems in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and recently China. In South Africa, due to its rapid increase in distribution and ineffective control options, it is recognised as one of the country’s worst invasive aquatic alien plants. In this paper, we investigate the spread of the plant since its first detection in 2008, and the management strategies currently carried out against it. Despite early detection and rapid response programmes, which included chemical and mechanical control measures, the plant was able to spread both within and between sites, increasing from just one site in 2008 to 72 by 2019. Once introduced into a lotic system, the plant was able to spread rapidly, in some cases up to 120 km within 6 years, with an average of 10 km per year. The plant was successfully extirpated at some sites, however, due to the failure of chemical and mechanical control, biological control is currently being considered as a potential control option.
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- Date Issued: 2020
The Legacy Effects of Colonial and Apartheid Imprints on Urban Greening in South Africa: Spaces, Species, and Suitability
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Gwedla, Nanamhla
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/176296 , vital:42682 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.579813
- Description: Colonialism is a significant legacy across most aspects of urban form, the nature and distribution of public green spaces, and tree species composition in many cities of the Global South. However, the legacy effects of colonialism on urban green infrastructure and the uses thereof have only recently come under scrutiny. Here we collate information from South Africa on urban greening and interpret it through a colonial and apartheid legacy lens in relation to the distribution and types of urban nature found and their resonance with contemporary needs as an African country.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Topsoil transfer from natural renosterveld to degraded old fields facilitates native vegetation recovery:
- Authors: Ruwanza, Sheunesu
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148639 , vital:38758 , https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093833
- Description: The transfer of soils from intact vegetation communities to degraded ecosystems is seen as a promising restoration tool aimed at facilitating vegetation recovery. This study examined how topsoil transfer from intact renosterveld to degraded old fields improves vegetation diversity, cover, and composition. Transferred topsoil were overlaid on 30 quadrats, each measuring 1 m2, in May 2009. Eight years following the initial soil transfer, vegetation diversity in the soil transfer site showed an increase towards the natural site compared to the old field site where no soil transfer was administered. Both species richness and cover for trees and shrubs in the soil transfer site increased towards the natural site, though this was not the case for herbs and grasses. One-way analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) showed significant (R = 0.55) separation in community composition between sites. The study concludes that soil transfer from intact renosterveld to degraded old fields is a promising restoration technique because it increases species diversity and cover and facilitates vegetation recovery. A significant restoration implication of this study is that soil transfer introduces key renosterveld native tree and shrub species that can facilitate successful restoration and act as restoration foci or nurse plants.
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- Date Issued: 2020
'Hayi, they don’t know Xhosa’: Comparative isiXhosa teaching challenges in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Kretzer, Michael M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , vital:42499 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1672318
- Description: Language-in-education policy in South Africa is underpinned by the Constitution. The gap that this research addresses is the inconsistency of policy implementation and the actual teaching of isiXhosa in primary schools. It analyses the official and overt language policy and the (covert) language practices at schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with language teachers and principals. Data were also gathered from classroom observations and document analysis in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. On the one hand, there are standard language policy documents that exist. These advocate for English as a language of learning and teaching and isiXhosa as a subject. On the other hand, the daily reality in classrooms partly reflects this policy implementation.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Conjuring our beings: Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali in conversational partnership
- Authors: Abe, Stacey Gillian , Mali, Immy
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145963 , vital:38482 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00457
- Description: The series of Conversational Partnerships began in 2017 in African Arts vol. 50, no. 2, with a conversation between two artists: Eria Nsubuga SANE from Uganda and Sikhumbuzo Makandula from South Africa. The format of a “conversational partnership” (Rubin and Rubin 2012: 7) emphasizes the cocreation of meaning by the interviewer and interviewee as coauthors. This enables a move away from the art history format of the interviewer (usually a writer) assuming the role of the sole author and the interviewee (often an artist) having no status as an author despite the fact that her or his practice-led creation of knowledge is foundational to the content of the interview. Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali participated in a joint artists' residency as part of the RAW program at Rhodes University in South Africa from November to December 2017. During this time, they engaged with each other's practice-led work, and they created this conversational partnership at a writing breakaway in the Eastern Cape.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Culicoides species as potential vectors of African horse sickness virus in the southern regions of South Africa:
- Authors: Riddin, M A , Venter, G J , Labuschagne, K , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140727 , vital:37913 , DOI: 10.1111/mve.12391
- Description: African horse sickness (AHS), a disease of equids caused by the AHS virus, is of major concern in South Africa. With mortality reaching up to 95% in susceptible horses and the apparent reoccurrence of cases in regions deemed non‐endemic, most particularly the Eastern Cape, epidemiological research into factors contributing to the increase in the range of this economically important virus became imperative. The vectors, Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), are considered unable to proliferate during the unfavourable climatic conditions experienced in winter in the province, although the annual occurrence of AHS suggests that the virus has become established and that vector activity continues throughout the year. Surveillance of Culicoides within the province is sparse and little was known of the diversity of vector species or the abundance of known vectors, Culicoides imicola and Culicoides bolitinos. Surveillance was performed using light trapping methods at selected sites with varying equid species over two winter and two outbreak seasons, aiming to determine diversity, abundance and vector epidemiology of Culicoides within the province. The research provided an updated checklist of Culicoides species within the Eastern Cape, contributing to an increase in the knowledge of AHS vector epidemiology, as well as prevention and control in southern Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Developing Mother Tongues as Academic Languages in Primary Schools in Kenya: Exploring Extent and Indispensability
- Authors: Mose, Peter N , Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174793 , vital:42510 , https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2019.1645605
- Description: The language in education policy in Kenya recommends mother tongue education in primary school learning. The purpose of this study was to explore the development of mother tongues as academic languages at the lower primary section in which the languages are supposed to be used. The exploration was on the functions they play in classroom instruction and if they are dispensable or otherwise. Ekegusii was used as a case study. Data were obtained through classroom observations and administration of semi-structured interviews with lower primary teachers. The findings indicate that mother tongues play important pedagogical functions in grades 1 up to 3, but not exactly as contemplated in the language policy. Secondly, mother tongues are indispensable in classroom teaching in spite of negative attitude towards their use.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Governance mapping: a framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of marine resource governance to environmental change
- Authors: Dutra, Leo X C , Sporne, Ilva , Haward, Marcus , Aswani, Shankar , Cochrane, Kevern L , Frusher, Stewart , Gasalla, Maria A , Gianesella, Sônia M F , Grant, Tanith , Hobday, Alistair J , Jennings, Sarah , Plagányi, Éva , Pecl, Gretta , Salim, Shyam S , Sauer, Warwick H H , Taboada, Manuela B , Van Putten, Ingrid E
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145336 , vital:38429 , DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2018.12.011
- Description: Marine social-ecological systems are influenced by the way humans interact with their environment, and external forces, which change and re-shape the environment. In many regions, exploitation of marine resources and climate change are two of the primary drivers shifting the abundance and distribution of marine living resources, with negative effects on marine-dependent communities. Governance systems determine ‘who’ makes decisions, ‘what’ are their powers and responsibilities, and ‘how’ they are exercised. Understanding the connections between the actors comprising governance systems and influences between governance and the environment is therefore critical to support successful transitions to novel forms of governance required to deal with environmental changes. The paper provides an analytical framework with a practical example from Vanuatu, for mapping and assessment of the governance system providing for management of coral reef fish resources. The framework enables a rapid analysis of governance systems to identify factors that can encourage, or hinder, the adaptation of communities to changes in abundance or availability of marine resources.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Green skills supply: Research from providers’ vantage point(s)
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/392895 , vital:68810 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279362
- Description: This chapter emerges from a need to consider the dynamics of supply side research for green skills from a providers’ vantage point. The chapter starts with the argument that environment and sustainability skills are cross institutional, cross sectoral and also inter- and transdisciplinary. The chapter notes that there are a wide variety and diversity of supply side studies that can offer perspective on the many dynamics of green skills supply and provisioning. Four cases have been selected and brought into view to illuminate the influence of context and history on designing curricula and the importance of reflexive curriculum review studies, whole institution approaches and transformative, transgressive forms of learning that move beyond the boundaries of single institutions. These studies are also brought into view to indicate the scope and depth of contextual, systemic and engaged research that is required to develop transformative orientations and perspectives on green skills supply, taking skills system supply beyond the traditional training needs analysis. The chapter argues that this is an important dimension of green skills research, if conceptualised within just transitions and transformations to sustainability.
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- Date Issued: 2019
In vitro Anti-trypanosomal activities of indanone-based chalcones:
- Authors: Beteck, Richard M , Legoabe, Lesetje J , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich C
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158280 , vital:40169 , https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12953
- Description: Human African trypanosomiasis is a neglected infectious disease that affects mostly people living in the rural areas of Africa. Current treatment options are limited to just four drugs that have been in use of four to nine decades. The life-threatening toxic side-effects associated with the use of these drugs are disconcerting. Poor efficacy, low oral bioavailability, and high cost are other shortcomings of current HAT treatments. Evaluating the potentials of known hits for other therapeutic areas may be a fast and convenient method to discover new hit compounds against alternative targets. A library of 34 known indanone based chalcones was screened against T.b. brucei and nine potent hits, having IC50 values between 0.5–8.9 µM, were found. The SAR studies of this series could provide useful information in guiding future exploration of this class of compounds in search of more potent, safe, and low cost anti-trypanosomal agents.
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- Date Issued: 2019