List of Titles

Conceptualising knowledge for access in the sciences: academic development from a social realist perspective

Authors: Ellery, Karen
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: article , text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59863 , vital:27671 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0085-x
Description: Whilst arguing from a social realist perspective that knowledge matters in academic development (AD) curricula, this paper addresses the question of what knowledge types and practices are necessary for enabling epistemological access. It presents a single, in-depth, qualitative case study in which the curriculum of a science AD course is characterised using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). Analysis of the course curriculum reveals legitimation of four main categories of knowledge types along a continuum of stronger to weaker epistemic relations: disciplinary knowledge, scientific literacies knowledge, general academic practices knowledge and everyday knowledge. These categories are ‘mapped’ onto an LCT(Semantics)(how meaning relates to both context and empirical referents) topological plane to reveal a curriculum that operates in three distinct but interrelated spaces by facing towards both the field of science and the practice of academia. It is argued that this empirically derived differentiated curriculum framework offers a conceptual means for considering the notion of access to ‘powerful’ knowledge in a range of AD and mainstream contexts.
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Date Issued: 2017

Life history strategy and population characteristics of an unexploited riverine cyprinid, Labeo capensis, in the largest impoundment in the Orange River Basin

- Winker, A Henning, Weyl, Olaf L F, Booth, Anthony J, Ellender, Bruce R

Authors: Winker, A Henning , Weyl, Olaf L F , Booth, Anthony J , Ellender, Bruce R
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124910 , vital:35709 , https://doi.10.3377/004.047.0124
Description: Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is one of the world’s most widely introduced and established freshwater fishes (Casal 2006). The species is considered to be one of the eight most invasive freshwater fishes (Lowe et al. 2000) and worldwide, it accounts for most of the records of successful establishments and adverse ecological effects (Casal 2006; Kulhanek et al. 2011). This invasive success suggests that feral C. carpio is equipped with a set of adaptable life history attributes that allow it to successfully colonise a wide range of habitats (Koehn 2004; Zambrano et al. 2006; Britton et al. 2007). Where feral C. carpio occurs in high densities, it is often perceived as an invasive pest species (Sivakumaran et al. 2003; Brown and Walker 2004; Koehn 2004) because it can have severe impacts on habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity by increasing water turbidity through its bottom feeding behaviour, increasing nutrient availability, decreasing benthic and macrophyte density and diversity, altering zooplankton assemblages and decreasing endemic fish abundance (Zambrano et al. 2001; Khan 2003; Kulhanek et al. 2011). Within south-east Australia, for example, C. carpio comprises the largest proportion of the ichthyobiomass in the continent’s largest river system – the Murray–Darling Basin (Gehrke et al. 1995). As a consequence, serious concerns about its threat to endemic freshwater species (Koehn 2004) have prompted several of the most recent investigations into its life history (e.g. Sivakumaran et al. 2003; Smith and Walker 2004; Brown et al. 2005). Other potential threats posed also include competition with indigenous species and the spread of diseases and parasites (Dudgeon et al. 2006). In South Africa, for example, Asian tapeworm Bothriocephalus acheilognathi is now widely distributed in seven river systems and has infected eight novel cyprinid hosts due to the translocation of infected by C. carpio from a centralized aquaculture facility (Stadtlander et al. 2011).
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Date Issued: 2012

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Enigmatic trace fossils from the Aeolian lower Jurassic Clarens formation, Southern Africa

- Bordy, Emese M

Authors: Bordy, Emese M
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6730 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007538
Description: The Lower Jurassic aeolienites of the Clarens Formation in southern Africa contain unique sedimentary structures that are unlikely to be non-biogenic. They are also unlike any known modern or ancient trace fossils. Here, some nigmatic, horizontal,regularly-oriented sedimentary structures are described, which occur in association with other trace fossils as well as features that were previously nterpreted as nests of termites or termite-like ancient social nsects. These spectacular structures are exposed in enormous profusion as straight, ~5 mm cylinders with strong compass orientation, in parallel alignment with one another and to ancient horizontal bedding planes. Their fill is identical to that of the host rock: clean, well-sorted, very fine- to finegrained quartz-arenite. In cross-section, each structure is defined by a subtle, ~0.1 mm thin, concentric gap. Without comparable modern biogenic structures, the biological origin of the structures is uncertain. Their strong compass orientations are, however, also inconsistent with an inorganic origin, even though they may resemble pipey concretions generated by flowing groundwater. Nonetheless, this paper, based on spatiotemporal distribution patterns of the oriented structures, their locally high abundance and association with obvious trace fossils, as well as other sedimentological and palaeontological lines of evidence, argues that the compass structures may be products of ancient social invertebrates living in a resource-limited, semi-arid to arid environment. Furthermore, the compass structures as well as the accompanying structures of the predominantly aeolian Clarens Formation collectively imply the recurrence of favourable ecological parameters (e.g., moist ubstrates) related to episodic climate fluctuations in the Early Jurassic of southern Pangaea (i.e., southern Gondwana).
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Date Issued: 2008

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Synthesis, structure and in vitro anti-trypanosomal activity of non-toxic Arylpyrrole-Based Chalcone derivatives:

- Zulu, Ayanda I, Oderinlo, Ogunyemi O, Kruger, Cuan, Isaacs, Michelle, Hoppe, Heinrich C, Smith, Vincent J, Veale, Clinton G L, Khanye, Setshaba D

Authors: Zulu, Ayanda I , Oderinlo, Ogunyemi O , Kruger, Cuan , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich C , Smith, Vincent J , Veale, Clinton G L , Khanye, Setshaba D
Date: 2020
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179017 , vital:40096 , https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25071668
Description: With an intention of identifying chalcone derivatives exhibiting anti-protozoal activity, a cohort of relatively unexplored arylpyrrole-based chalcone derivatives were synthesized in moderate to good yields. The resultant compounds were evaluated in vitro for their potential activity against a cultured Trypanosoma brucei brucei 427 strain. Several compounds displayed mostly modest in vitro anti-trypanosomal activity with compounds 10e and 10h emerging as active candidates with IC50 values of 4.09 and 5.11 µM, respectively. More importantly, a concomitant assessment of their activity against a human cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cell line revealed that these compounds are non-toxic.
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Date Issued: 2020

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Sedimentary facies and geomorphic evolution of a blocked‐valley lake: Lake Futululu, northern Kwazulu‐Natal, South Africa

- Grenfell, Suzanne E, Ellery, William F N, Grenfell, Michael C, Ramsay, Lisa F, Flügel, Tyrel J

Authors: Grenfell, Suzanne E , Ellery, William F N , Grenfell, Michael C , Ramsay, Lisa F , Flügel, Tyrel J
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126826 , vital:35928 , https://doi.10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01141.x
Description: Blocked-valley lakes are formed when tributaries are impounded by the relatively rapid aggradation of a large river and its floodplain. These features are common in the landscape, and have been identified in the floodplains of the Solimo˜es-Amazon (Brazil) and Fly-Strickland Rivers (Papua New Guinea), for example, but their inaccessibility has resulted in studies being limited to remotely sensed image analysis. This paper documents the sedimentology and geomorphic evolution of a blocked-valley lake, Lake Futululu on the Mfolozi River floodplain margin, in South Africa, while also offering a context for the formation of lakes and wetlands at tributary junctions. The study combines aerial photography, elevation data from orthophotographs and field survey, and longitudinal sedimentology determined from a series of cores, which were sub-sampled for organic content and particle size analysis. Radiocarbon dating was used to gauge the rate and timing of peat accumulation. Results indicate that following the last glacial maximum, rising sea-levels caused aggradation of the Mfolozi River floodplain. By 3980 years bp, aggradation on the floodplain had impounded the Futululu drainage line, creating conditions suitable for peat formation, which has since occurred at a constant average rate of 0Æ13 cm year)1. Continued aggradation on the Mfolozi River floodplain has raised the base level of the Futululu drainage line, resulting in a series of backstepping sedimentary facies with fluvially derived sand and silt episodically prograding over lacustrine peat deposits. Blocked-valley lakes form where the trunk river has a much larger sediment load and catchment than the tributary stream. Similarly, when the relative difference in sediment loads is less, palustrine wetlands, rather than lakes, may be the result. In contrast, where tributaries drain a steep, well-connected catchment, they may impound much larger trunk rivers, creating lakes or wetlands upstream.
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Date Issued: 2010

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Effect of laundry activities on in-stream concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate in a small rural South African river

- Gordon, Andrew K, Muller, Wilhelmine J, Gysman, N, Marshall, S J, Sparham, C J, O'Connor, S M, Whelan, M J

Authors: Gordon, Andrew K , Muller, Wilhelmine J , Gysman, N , Marshall, S J , Sparham, C J , O'Connor, S M , Whelan, M J
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: text , Article
Identifier: vital:7094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012427
Description: In many parts of the world clothes are washed near to or in rivers and streams. Little information is available on resulting concentrations of detergent ingredients or on any potential effects caused. In this study, the fate of a commonly used anionic surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) was investigated in a reach of the Balfour River (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) which was regularly used as a site for laundry activity. Samples of river water were collected upstream of the main washing site and at a number of locations downstream on several occasions in winter and summer. Sediment samples were also collected and analysed. In addition, a household survey was conducted to ascertain the amount of detergent used and the distribution of washing practices. The results of the survey suggested that the use of riverside locations for laundry activities was seasonal. Most washing tended to be done at home during the winter with riverside sites used more frequently during the summer months. The monitoring data showed that LAS concentrations in water were very variable. They were occasionally high in the immediate vicinity of the laundry site (up to 342 µg L− 1) but were generally very low (< 11 µg L− 1) at downstream monitoring stations, suggesting that LAS was rapidly dissipated by a combination of degradation, hydrodynamic dispersion and dilution. Concentrations in the immediate vicinity of the washing site were lower than expected on the basis of the household survey because most waste water was disposed of on the river bank rather than directly in the river. No ecological effects are expected from LAS emissions at this site.
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Date Issued: 2009

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'She travels alone and unattended’: the visit to the Eastern Cape of the botanical artist, Marianne North

- Beard, Margot

Authors: Beard, Margot
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147759 , vital:38668 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00043389.2007.11877077
Description: The visit of the botanical artist, Marianne North, to South Africa during 1882 to 1883, although frequently referred to, has not received much close attention; nor has her account of the visit, in her ‘Recollections of a happy’ life, been set against the actual conditions she would have encountered. This paper attempts to flesh out at least part of that visit, specifically the weeks she spent in the Eastern Cape Colony and, more particularly, her visits to Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Port Alfred. What were these three centres like at the time? Who were the people she mentions? Where did she stay? How do her observations tally with other accounts of the period?.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Reimagining our missing histories: Eria Nsubuga SANE and Sikhumbuzo Makandula in conversational partnership

- Makandula, Sikhumbuzo, Nsubuga, Eria

Authors: Makandula, Sikhumbuzo , Nsubuga, Eria
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145620 , vital:38452 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/AFAR_a_00345
Description: While an interview could be described as a view among, between, betwixt, or in the midst of two subjects—from s'entrevoir (see each other); entre (between) and vue (view)—many interviews in art history are hierarchical not only in the sense of an interviewer “authoring” the material received from the respondent, but also in the sense of the theorist or writer shaping the ideas of the practitioner. As discussed in the First Word, “Situating Africa,” there is a tendency for writers in the “north” to theorize the professional practice of artists in the “south,” developing what Gordon Lewis (2006) refers to as a geography of reason. In their book Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data, Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin (2012:7) develop the term “conversational partnership” to describe two or more participants who play an active role in shaping content as they cocreate meaning. This conversational partnership between two artists—one based in Uganda and the other based in South Africa—developed out of the publishing workshop at Rhodes University in June 2016, which aimed to approach the creation of knowledge from the perspective of “sideways learning” (see “Reaching Sideways, Writing Our Ways” in this issue). —Ruth Simbao.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Isolation, characterization and antiproliferative activity of new metabolites from the South African endemic red algal species Laurencia alfredensis

- Dziwornu, Godwin A, Caira, Mino R, de la Mare, Jo-Anne, Edkins, Adrienne L, Bolton, John J, Beukes, Denzil R, Sunassee, Suthananda N

Authors: Dziwornu, Godwin A , Caira, Mino R , de la Mare, Jo-Anne , Edkins, Adrienne L , Bolton, John J , Beukes, Denzil R , Sunassee, Suthananda N
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: article , text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59963 , vital:27715 , https://doi:10.3390/molecules22040513
Description: The marine red algae of the genus Laurencia have been widely studied for their structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites. We report here the natural product investigation of the organic extract of a newly identified South African endemic species, Laurencia alfredensis. A sequence of column chromatography, preparative TLC and normal phase HPLC resulted in the isolation of eleven compounds comprising three labdane-type diterpenes (1-3), four polyether triterpenes (4-7), three cholestane-type ecdysteroids (8-10) and a glycolipid (11). Compounds 1-3, 5-8 and 10 have not previously been reported, while compound 9 is reported here for the first time from a natural source and the known compound 11 isolated for the first time from the genus Laurencia. The structural elucidation and the relative configuration assignments of the compounds were accomplished by extensive use of ID- and 2D-NMR, HR-ESI-MS, UV and IR spectroscopic techniques, while the absolute configuration of compound 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. All compounds were evaluated against the MDA-MB-231 breast and HeLa cervical cancer cell lines. Compound 2 exhibited low micromolar antiproliferative activity (IC50 = 9.3 gM) against the triple negative breast carcinoma and compound 7 was similarly active (IC50 = 8.8 gM) against the cervical cancer cell line.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Lost and found: the value of a little known bilingual dictionary towards the intellectualization of Ndau

- Sithole, Emmanuel, Nkomo, Dion

Authors: Sithole, Emmanuel , Nkomo, Dion
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67537 , vital:29109 , http://dx.doi.org/10.5788/27-1-1411
Description: Publisher version , This article critically evaluates the ChiNdau–English and English–ChiNdau Vocabulary: With Grammatical Notes, a bilingual dictionary published in 1915 by the American Board Mission (Rhodesian Branch), with a view of determining its suitability for use as a point of departure for modern Ndau lexicography. More than a century after its publication, it remains the only dictionary in the language. The language has been treated as a dialect of Shona for close to a century, until its emergence as one of the country's sixteen officially-recognized languages in the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe. This landmark development requires practical work that can transform Ndau into a fully-fledged and intellectualized language. Lexicography is one of the key intellectual enterprises that can contribute in this regard. It is therefore the contention of this article that the existing dictionary be considered as a vital point of reference for future lexicographic work in Ndau. An analysis of various aspects of the dictionary indicate that, notwithstanding some limitations, this dictionary indeed managed to set some standards that may be incorporated in current and future lexicographic works in this less documented language.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Teaching Postcolonial Crime Fiction:

- Naidu, Samantha

Authors: Naidu, Samantha
Date: 2018
Language: English
Type: text , book
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158024 , vital:40140 , ISBN 978-3-319-90608-9
Description: This chapter is a survey of teaching crime fiction in postcolonial South Africa. After offering a definition and historicisation of postcolonial crime fiction in general, the survey focuses on my third-year undergraduate course, ‘Sleuthing the State: South African Crime and Detective Fiction’. The survey includes a description of the curriculum content, teaching methods, forms of assessment and student evaluation. The chapter also contains theoretical discussion about the practical and ethical implications of teaching crime fiction in a turbulent and transitional socio-political context. To end, the chapter comments on the high points of this teaching experience and on some of the challenges encountered.
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Date Issued: 2018

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Cretaceous erosion in central South Africa: evidence from upper-crustal xenoliths in kimberlite diatremes

- Hanson, E Kelsey, Moore, John M, Bordy, Emese M, Marsh, Julian S, Howarth, G, Robey, J V A

Authors: Hanson, E Kelsey , Moore, John M , Bordy, Emese M , Marsh, Julian S , Howarth, G , Robey, J V A
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144978 , vital:38397 , https://doi.org/10.2113/gssajg.112.2.125
Description: Twelve Group II and fourteen Group I kimberlite diatremes in central South Africa were examined for upper crustal xenoliths in order to estimate the extent of various lithological units of the Karoo Supergroup in the main Karoo basin at times of kimberlite eruption, the Cretaceous erosional history of the area, and the approximate vertical extent of the kimberlite diatremes prior to erosion. Sandstone and amygdaloidal basaltic lava xenoliths from the Karoo Supergroup were specifically selected as their modal mineralogies and geochemical compositions respectively can be attributed to specific stratigraphic positions within the Karoo Supergroup. Results indicated that, at the time of Group II kimberlite eruption (120 Ma), basaltic lavas of the Drakensberg Group covered the entire area, but by the time of Group I kimberlite eruption (85 Ma), they were restricted to the south-eastern half of the study area.
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Date Issued: 2009

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Repurposing a polymer precursor: Synthesis and in vitro medicinal potential of ferrocenyl 1, 3-benzoxazine derivatives

- Mbaba, Mziyanda, Dingle, Laura M K, Cash, Devon, de la Mare, Jo-Anne, Laming, Dustin, Taylor, Dale, Hoppe, Heinrich C, Edkins, Adrienne L, Khanye, Setshaba D

Authors: Mbaba, Mziyanda , Dingle, Laura M K , Cash, Devon , de la Mare, Jo-Anne , Laming, Dustin , Taylor, Dale , Hoppe, Heinrich C , Edkins, Adrienne L , Khanye, Setshaba D
Date: 2020
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/165395 , vital:41240 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111924
Description: Cancer and malaria remain relevant pathologies in modern medicinal chemistry endeavours. This is compounded by the threat of development of resistance to existing clinical drugs in use as first-line option for treatment of these diseases. To counter this threat, strategies such as drug repurposing and hybridization are constantly adapted in contemporary drug discovery for the expansion of the drug arsenal and generation of novel chemotypes with potential to avert or delay resistance. In the present study, a polymer precursor scaffold, 1,3-benzoxazine, has been repurposed by incorporation of an organometallic ferrocene unit to produce a novel class of compounds showing in vitro biological activity against breast cancer, malaria and trypanosomiasis.
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Date Issued: 2020

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