PRIMO: an interactive homology modeling pipeline
- Hatherley, Rowan, Brown, David K, Glenister, Michael, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Hatherley, Rowan , Brown, David K , Glenister, Michael , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148282 , vital:38726 , doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166698
- Description: The development of automated servers to predict the three-dimensional structure of proteins has seen much progress over the years. These servers make calculations simpler, but largely exclude users from the process. In this study, we present the PRotein Interactive MOdeling (PRIMO) pipeline for homology modeling of protein monomers. The pipeline eases the multi-step modeling process, and reduces the workload required by the user, while still allowing engagement from the user during every step. Default parameters are given for each step, which can either be modified or supplemented with additional external input. PRIMO has been designed for users of varying levels of experience with homology modeling. The pipeline incorporates a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to alter parameters used during modeling.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Hatherley, Rowan , Brown, David K , Glenister, Michael , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148282 , vital:38726 , doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166698
- Description: The development of automated servers to predict the three-dimensional structure of proteins has seen much progress over the years. These servers make calculations simpler, but largely exclude users from the process. In this study, we present the PRotein Interactive MOdeling (PRIMO) pipeline for homology modeling of protein monomers. The pipeline eases the multi-step modeling process, and reduces the workload required by the user, while still allowing engagement from the user during every step. Default parameters are given for each step, which can either be modified or supplemented with additional external input. PRIMO has been designed for users of varying levels of experience with homology modeling. The pipeline incorporates a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to alter parameters used during modeling.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Learning from the Grassroots: The Case for The Consideration of Community-Based Agrarian and Food Security Reforms in South Africa
- Hosu,Y S, Ndhleve, S, Kabiti, H M, Yusuf, S F G
- Authors: Hosu,Y S , Ndhleve, S , Kabiti, H M , Yusuf, S F G
- Date: 2021-19
- Subjects: Land reform , Farms, Small
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7452 , vital:53978 , https://doi.org/10.18697/ajfand.104.19770
- Description: Studies of projected agro-climatic variability on the productivity of smallholding farming livelihoods have been evaluated by indirect methods using simulation models on country or regional basis but few have been done at the community level. This study explores direct observation of the impact of soil and climate factors on crop and livestock livelihood systems in the three major agro-ecological zones of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It also analyzed their influence on small farmers’ choices of agrarian livelihood activities and the lessons learned for the suitability of agro-ecologically integrated agriculture as part of agrarian and food security reforms needed among small farming households in rural communities of South Africa. The impact of soil and rainfall on the crop and livestock livelihood choices of smallholders in the three major agro-ecological zones were explored. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 223 smallholding farming households during the harvesting period of rain-fed farming season. Data on household livelihood activities were processed in monetary terms and subjected to gross margin and cost/benefit analysis. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping and statistical analysis were used to determine the association of smallholder maize revenue with agro-climatic variation. The results indicated that crop-based activities performed better in the Grassland zone, while livestock activities performed better in the Savanna zone. Small farms in the Karoo can only productively engage in livestock production. The results also showed that farming activities that combined more vegetable crops yielded greater profits than other field crops. Furthermore, the results indicate that the mixed cropping method remains one of the strategies for breaking-even and risk-bearing effort used by the smallholder farmers considering its cost-sharing benefits. Geographical information system (GIS) mapping further indicates that smallholders’ farming activity was not only affected by soilclimatic factors but by their management skills as well. We recommend agroecologically adapted policies and incentives for agriculture-based livelihood activities and intensified mixing of cropping systems among the smallholder farming households in the study area.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-19
- Authors: Hosu,Y S , Ndhleve, S , Kabiti, H M , Yusuf, S F G
- Date: 2021-19
- Subjects: Land reform , Farms, Small
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7452 , vital:53978 , https://doi.org/10.18697/ajfand.104.19770
- Description: Studies of projected agro-climatic variability on the productivity of smallholding farming livelihoods have been evaluated by indirect methods using simulation models on country or regional basis but few have been done at the community level. This study explores direct observation of the impact of soil and climate factors on crop and livestock livelihood systems in the three major agro-ecological zones of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It also analyzed their influence on small farmers’ choices of agrarian livelihood activities and the lessons learned for the suitability of agro-ecologically integrated agriculture as part of agrarian and food security reforms needed among small farming households in rural communities of South Africa. The impact of soil and rainfall on the crop and livestock livelihood choices of smallholders in the three major agro-ecological zones were explored. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 223 smallholding farming households during the harvesting period of rain-fed farming season. Data on household livelihood activities were processed in monetary terms and subjected to gross margin and cost/benefit analysis. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping and statistical analysis were used to determine the association of smallholder maize revenue with agro-climatic variation. The results indicated that crop-based activities performed better in the Grassland zone, while livestock activities performed better in the Savanna zone. Small farms in the Karoo can only productively engage in livestock production. The results also showed that farming activities that combined more vegetable crops yielded greater profits than other field crops. Furthermore, the results indicate that the mixed cropping method remains one of the strategies for breaking-even and risk-bearing effort used by the smallholder farmers considering its cost-sharing benefits. Geographical information system (GIS) mapping further indicates that smallholders’ farming activity was not only affected by soilclimatic factors but by their management skills as well. We recommend agroecologically adapted policies and incentives for agriculture-based livelihood activities and intensified mixing of cropping systems among the smallholder farming households in the study area.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-19
Mortgage bonds and the right of access to adequate housing in South Africa: Gundwana v Stoke Development and Others 2011 (3) SA 608 (CC)
- Authors: Juma, Laurence
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/127479 , vital:36015 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC129329
- Description: This article offers a critique of Gundwana v Stoke Development and Others 2011 (3) SA 608 (CC), a case in which the Constitutional Court of South Africa found it to be unconstitutional for the registrar of a high court to declare immovable properties specially executable when ordering a default judgement, to the extent that such an order "permitted the sale and execution of a home of a person". The Court interpreted the property clause in section 25, access to right to housing in section 26 of the Constitution, as mandating "further judicial oversight" in all cases where execution is levied against residential property. The article raises some of the shortcomings of this interpretive scheme and suggests that constitutional values, when used to curtail or enlarge obligations of parties to a mortgage bond, must take into account the general rights and duties which the parties assumed at the signing of the agreement; the circumstances of each of the parties at the time of execution and ascertained through a careful evaluation based on a clearly articulated set of principles, and the nature of constitutional rights themselves. The article argues that, whereas there may be circumstances in which a debtor may need protection, rather than impose a blanket abrogation of procedures allowing for expedient disposal of uncontested claims, the court should instead have considered the establishment of further procedural safeguards.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Juma, Laurence
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/127479 , vital:36015 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC129329
- Description: This article offers a critique of Gundwana v Stoke Development and Others 2011 (3) SA 608 (CC), a case in which the Constitutional Court of South Africa found it to be unconstitutional for the registrar of a high court to declare immovable properties specially executable when ordering a default judgement, to the extent that such an order "permitted the sale and execution of a home of a person". The Court interpreted the property clause in section 25, access to right to housing in section 26 of the Constitution, as mandating "further judicial oversight" in all cases where execution is levied against residential property. The article raises some of the shortcomings of this interpretive scheme and suggests that constitutional values, when used to curtail or enlarge obligations of parties to a mortgage bond, must take into account the general rights and duties which the parties assumed at the signing of the agreement; the circumstances of each of the parties at the time of execution and ascertained through a careful evaluation based on a clearly articulated set of principles, and the nature of constitutional rights themselves. The article argues that, whereas there may be circumstances in which a debtor may need protection, rather than impose a blanket abrogation of procedures allowing for expedient disposal of uncontested claims, the court should instead have considered the establishment of further procedural safeguards.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2012
Intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature: the case of Jeff Opland
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67030 , vital:29022 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.54i2.413
- Description: publisher version , The origins of the intellectualisation of written isiXhosa literature are often attributed to the missionaries John Ross and John Bennie. They set up a printing press in the Tyhume Valley which later became known as Lovedale Press. They introduced written isiXhosa in 1823 and for this they are acknowledged as the first to write and publish in isiXhosa. This article attempts to trace this intellectualisation process of isiXhosa literature, concentrating on a critique and assessment of the life-long work of Professor Jeff Opland, who has contributed enormously to the present understanding of both oral and written isiXhosa literature. It is argued in this article that his corpus of books and academic articles require some contextualisation within the broader debate of the continued intellectualisation of isiXhosa language and literature. Reference is also made to the Opland isiXhosa literature archive and its contribution to the further intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature. It is suggested in this article that Opland is one of the greatest contributors to academic debates concerning isiXhosa literature and history. Izibongo or oral poems written by, and about Jeff Opland are analysed to further enhance the context of his contribution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67030 , vital:29022 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.54i2.413
- Description: publisher version , The origins of the intellectualisation of written isiXhosa literature are often attributed to the missionaries John Ross and John Bennie. They set up a printing press in the Tyhume Valley which later became known as Lovedale Press. They introduced written isiXhosa in 1823 and for this they are acknowledged as the first to write and publish in isiXhosa. This article attempts to trace this intellectualisation process of isiXhosa literature, concentrating on a critique and assessment of the life-long work of Professor Jeff Opland, who has contributed enormously to the present understanding of both oral and written isiXhosa literature. It is argued in this article that his corpus of books and academic articles require some contextualisation within the broader debate of the continued intellectualisation of isiXhosa language and literature. Reference is also made to the Opland isiXhosa literature archive and its contribution to the further intellectualisation of isiXhosa literature. It is suggested in this article that Opland is one of the greatest contributors to academic debates concerning isiXhosa literature and history. Izibongo or oral poems written by, and about Jeff Opland are analysed to further enhance the context of his contribution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Towards enhancing indigenous language acquisition skills through MMORPGs
- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Indigenous peoples -- Languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Language and languags -- Computer-assisted instruction , Language and languags -- Study and teaching -- Technological innovation , Language acquisition , Computer games
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59343 , vital:27559 , http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/17.1/08%20Kas%20FIN.pdf
- Description: The growing interest and access to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) has opened up significant new scope for educational methodologies, from standard language teaching options through to formalising the skills that a ‘player’ develops through their quests and other activities. This scope is extensive and has created numerous opportunities for innovation both within education and the world of work. This is evidenced by the increasing presence of educational establishments in the virtual world, with Second Life being the most popular for conventional educational purposes. In Second Life and many other realms participants are earning some income and in some cases enjoying a reasonable living from online activities, while developing their skills base. These MMORPGs may open opportunities for promoting language acquisition provided this is located within a suitably attractive realm; ‘players’ would then engage in activities that would contribute to their abilities to use the indigenous languages in everyday life. This article explores how such a system could be developed and the likely contribution it could make to promote a multilingual environment at school and post school levels. Further, it will identify the implications for the future of teaching and learning through the harnessing of MMORPGs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Indigenous peoples -- Languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Language and languags -- Computer-assisted instruction , Language and languags -- Study and teaching -- Technological innovation , Language acquisition , Computer games
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59343 , vital:27559 , http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/17.1/08%20Kas%20FIN.pdf
- Description: The growing interest and access to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) has opened up significant new scope for educational methodologies, from standard language teaching options through to formalising the skills that a ‘player’ develops through their quests and other activities. This scope is extensive and has created numerous opportunities for innovation both within education and the world of work. This is evidenced by the increasing presence of educational establishments in the virtual world, with Second Life being the most popular for conventional educational purposes. In Second Life and many other realms participants are earning some income and in some cases enjoying a reasonable living from online activities, while developing their skills base. These MMORPGs may open opportunities for promoting language acquisition provided this is located within a suitably attractive realm; ‘players’ would then engage in activities that would contribute to their abilities to use the indigenous languages in everyday life. This article explores how such a system could be developed and the likely contribution it could make to promote a multilingual environment at school and post school levels. Further, it will identify the implications for the future of teaching and learning through the harnessing of MMORPGs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Introduction to Psychology 1: PSY 111F
- Authors: Kheswa, J G , Van Niekerk, R
- Date: 2011-05
- Language: English
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18036 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1010620
- Description: Introduction to Psychology 1: PSY 111F, degree examination May/June 2011.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011-05
- Authors: Kheswa, J G , Van Niekerk, R
- Date: 2011-05
- Language: English
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18036 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1010620
- Description: Introduction to Psychology 1: PSY 111F, degree examination May/June 2011.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011-05
Disjunctions in the Diptera (Insecta) fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa and a discussion of biogeographical considerations : ecological overview article
- Kirk-Spriggs, A H, McGregor, Gillian K
- Authors: Kirk-Spriggs, A H , McGregor, Gillian K
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6880 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011636
- Description: This paper explores disjunctions in the Diptera fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa, drawing from eight families of Diptera, the more ancient Psychodidae and Vermileonidae, and the more recent Acroceridae, Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Dolichopodidae, Pipunculidae and Sciomyzidae. Information from recent published revisions is geo-referenced and plotted onto maps using GIS software. These distribution patterns are interpreted and probable means and routes of dispersal between the two regions are discussed. The concept of an Afrotropical sub-Saharan boundary is outlined and it is argued that although the vast, arid and virtually abiotic Sahara acts as a barrier to dispersal today, relict floral and faunal populations of Mediterranean provincial origin still occur on the Hoggar and Tibesti Mountains of the central Sahara, indicating that the aridification of the Sahara is a very recent event. The presence of extensive palaeolakes formerly covering ca 10% of the present-day Sahara is regarded as evidence in support of this hypothesis. These lakes and their associated catchments, situated in basins between the central Saharan mountains, could clearly have acted as a humid route of dispersal as recently as 4000 BP, when these lakes began to recede, and this route is here regarded as a "central high Africa corridor"; a filter-bridge between the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa. Examples of Mediterranean provincial species of Ephydridae and the muscid genus Lispe Latreille, 1796, occurring as far south as the AÏr Massif in northern Niger are cited as examples of relict montane Diptera of Mediterranean provincial origin in the southern Hoggar Mountains; these groups being associated with the margins of standing water. Balinsky's (1962) concept of an "arid corridor" is also re-examined, using examples from the larger, less mobile Diptera, and it is concluded that such a pattern may not be the result of aridity, but represent an "eastern high Africa corridor", broadly corresponding to the "African Supers well". Other perceived distribution pathways between the Holarctic and Afrotropical Regions are mapped. Anemochore dispersal is considered, and the extent of the Afrotropical Region is discussed. Mediterranean tectonic evolution on both a globe of constant size and on a smaller Jurassic globe is also considered. It is concluded that if all the transitional zones between the zoogeographical regions are to be given more-or-less equivalent treatment, we must avoid setting boundaries based on earlier faunal distributions. For this reason the current boundary between the Palaearctic and Afrotropical Regions, arbitrary as it is, should be retained, despite evidence suggesting recent continuity between sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, corresponding broadly to the African and Arabian lithospheric plates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kirk-Spriggs, A H , McGregor, Gillian K
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6880 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011636
- Description: This paper explores disjunctions in the Diptera fauna of the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa, drawing from eight families of Diptera, the more ancient Psychodidae and Vermileonidae, and the more recent Acroceridae, Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Dolichopodidae, Pipunculidae and Sciomyzidae. Information from recent published revisions is geo-referenced and plotted onto maps using GIS software. These distribution patterns are interpreted and probable means and routes of dispersal between the two regions are discussed. The concept of an Afrotropical sub-Saharan boundary is outlined and it is argued that although the vast, arid and virtually abiotic Sahara acts as a barrier to dispersal today, relict floral and faunal populations of Mediterranean provincial origin still occur on the Hoggar and Tibesti Mountains of the central Sahara, indicating that the aridification of the Sahara is a very recent event. The presence of extensive palaeolakes formerly covering ca 10% of the present-day Sahara is regarded as evidence in support of this hypothesis. These lakes and their associated catchments, situated in basins between the central Saharan mountains, could clearly have acted as a humid route of dispersal as recently as 4000 BP, when these lakes began to recede, and this route is here regarded as a "central high Africa corridor"; a filter-bridge between the Mediterranean Province and southern Africa. Examples of Mediterranean provincial species of Ephydridae and the muscid genus Lispe Latreille, 1796, occurring as far south as the AÏr Massif in northern Niger are cited as examples of relict montane Diptera of Mediterranean provincial origin in the southern Hoggar Mountains; these groups being associated with the margins of standing water. Balinsky's (1962) concept of an "arid corridor" is also re-examined, using examples from the larger, less mobile Diptera, and it is concluded that such a pattern may not be the result of aridity, but represent an "eastern high Africa corridor", broadly corresponding to the "African Supers well". Other perceived distribution pathways between the Holarctic and Afrotropical Regions are mapped. Anemochore dispersal is considered, and the extent of the Afrotropical Region is discussed. Mediterranean tectonic evolution on both a globe of constant size and on a smaller Jurassic globe is also considered. It is concluded that if all the transitional zones between the zoogeographical regions are to be given more-or-less equivalent treatment, we must avoid setting boundaries based on earlier faunal distributions. For this reason the current boundary between the Palaearctic and Afrotropical Regions, arbitrary as it is, should be retained, despite evidence suggesting recent continuity between sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, corresponding broadly to the African and Arabian lithospheric plates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
From the grave to the cradle : the possibility of post-mortem gamete retrieval and reproduction in South Africa
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:24533 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36254 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19962126.2012.11865059
- Description: The development of reproductive technologies in the last century, such as effective contraceptive methods, artificial insemination, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, amongst others, has fundamentally reshaped traditional concepts of reproduction parenthood and has raised practical and ethical concerns. This article describes one such development, namely, post-mortem gamete retrieval (PMGR) for the purposes of posthumous reproduction. In exploring the particular concerns arising from this technology, I argue that South Africa lacks a coherent, considered approach to the issue. In considering models adopted in overseas jurisdictions, and the various bases for the legalisation of such a procedure, I adopt an interest theory of rights to argue for restricted access to such a technology in suitable circumstances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:24533 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/36254 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19962126.2012.11865059
- Description: The development of reproductive technologies in the last century, such as effective contraceptive methods, artificial insemination, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, amongst others, has fundamentally reshaped traditional concepts of reproduction parenthood and has raised practical and ethical concerns. This article describes one such development, namely, post-mortem gamete retrieval (PMGR) for the purposes of posthumous reproduction. In exploring the particular concerns arising from this technology, I argue that South Africa lacks a coherent, considered approach to the issue. In considering models adopted in overseas jurisdictions, and the various bases for the legalisation of such a procedure, I adopt an interest theory of rights to argue for restricted access to such a technology in suitable circumstances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Macroeconomic theory after the great recession of 2008: the need for a market process approach
- Authors: Le Roux, Pierre
- Subjects: Recessions , Macroeconomics , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/52919 , vital:44679
- Description: This paper sets out to reflect that contemporary schools of thought are unable to explain the great recession of 2008. The Great Recession 2007-2009 and the long, slow recovery from it serve as reminders of the difficulty of explaining business cycles. Macroeconomists of all varieties have been humbled by these events and by our inability to predict or to design policies that moderate the effects. Paul Krugman (2009) and John Cochrane (2010) are examples of how two schools of thought have struggled with the issue. Many theories of business cycles exist, without any being comprehensive; none are able to account for all important characteristics. Macroeconomic theory continues to explore stylised facts for explanatory power. The whole sub-discipline of “macroeconomics” is premised on the belief that the standard microeconomic tools are not of much use in understanding the dynamics of growth and business cycles. Even with the rational expectations revolution purporting to set macroeconomics back on microfoundations, the language of aggregate supply and demand, over-simplified versions of the Quantity Theory of Money, and the aggregative analytics of the Keynesian cross and simple models of functional finance still fill the textbooks and inform most policy debates. The neglect of capital theory in particular has removed the important elements of time and money from Macroeconomics. The main approaches to Macroeconomics are compared and their lack of a firm micro foundation exposed. The dissatisfaction with macroeconomics can be resolved by taking a more capitalbased approach. This will allow for macro elements such as time and money while reintroducing the entrepreneur into macroeconomic theory. Relative prices, especially intertemporal prices can then again take their rightful place in explaining the business cycle.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Le Roux, Pierre
- Subjects: Recessions , Macroeconomics , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/52919 , vital:44679
- Description: This paper sets out to reflect that contemporary schools of thought are unable to explain the great recession of 2008. The Great Recession 2007-2009 and the long, slow recovery from it serve as reminders of the difficulty of explaining business cycles. Macroeconomists of all varieties have been humbled by these events and by our inability to predict or to design policies that moderate the effects. Paul Krugman (2009) and John Cochrane (2010) are examples of how two schools of thought have struggled with the issue. Many theories of business cycles exist, without any being comprehensive; none are able to account for all important characteristics. Macroeconomic theory continues to explore stylised facts for explanatory power. The whole sub-discipline of “macroeconomics” is premised on the belief that the standard microeconomic tools are not of much use in understanding the dynamics of growth and business cycles. Even with the rational expectations revolution purporting to set macroeconomics back on microfoundations, the language of aggregate supply and demand, over-simplified versions of the Quantity Theory of Money, and the aggregative analytics of the Keynesian cross and simple models of functional finance still fill the textbooks and inform most policy debates. The neglect of capital theory in particular has removed the important elements of time and money from Macroeconomics. The main approaches to Macroeconomics are compared and their lack of a firm micro foundation exposed. The dissatisfaction with macroeconomics can be resolved by taking a more capitalbased approach. This will allow for macro elements such as time and money while reintroducing the entrepreneur into macroeconomic theory. Relative prices, especially intertemporal prices can then again take their rightful place in explaining the business cycle.
- Full Text:
Late glacial and holocene palaeoclimatology of the Drakensberg of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6692 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006727
- Description: Eight climatic events during the Holocene are evidenced in the East Cape Drakensberg by fluvial, archaeological and palynological deposits. Flood plain deposition under relatively moist conditions occurred in the Early Holocene, before ca. 7000 BP. Semi-arid conditions with limited fluvial activity dominated the Mid Holocene until ca. 3200 BP. Alternating flood plain erosion and deposition occurred in the Late Holocene. Four climatic events, for which there is palynological and limited archaeological evidence, have been identified in the Late Glacial.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6692 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006727
- Description: Eight climatic events during the Holocene are evidenced in the East Cape Drakensberg by fluvial, archaeological and palynological deposits. Flood plain deposition under relatively moist conditions occurred in the Early Holocene, before ca. 7000 BP. Semi-arid conditions with limited fluvial activity dominated the Mid Holocene until ca. 3200 BP. Alternating flood plain erosion and deposition occurred in the Late Holocene. Four climatic events, for which there is palynological and limited archaeological evidence, have been identified in the Late Glacial.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Changing practices, changing values?: a Bernsteinian analysis of knowledge production and knowledge exchange in two UK universities
- Little, Brenda, Abbas, Andrea, Singh, Mala
- 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.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
- 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.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
The TPR2B domain of the Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein (Hop) may contribute towards its dimerization
- Longshaw, Victoria M, Stephens, Linda L, Daniel, Sheril, Blatch, Gregory L
- Authors: Longshaw, Victoria M , Stephens, Linda L , Daniel, Sheril , Blatch, Gregory L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6481 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006253 , http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/092986609787848162
- Description: The role of the TPR2B domain of Hop is as yet unknown. We have shown here by site directed mutagenesis and size exclusion chromatography for the first time that the TPR1 and TPR2B domains of Hop independently dimerized, and that the dimerization of TPR2B was not dependent on its predicted two-carboxylate clamp residues. Furthermore, our data indicated that the dimerization of Hop and its domains was not disrupted in the presence of Hsp70 and Hsp90 peptides.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
The TPR2B domain of the Hsp70/Hsp90 organizing protein (Hop) may contribute towards its dimerization
- Authors: Longshaw, Victoria M , Stephens, Linda L , Daniel, Sheril , Blatch, Gregory L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6481 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006253 , http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/092986609787848162
- Description: The role of the TPR2B domain of Hop is as yet unknown. We have shown here by site directed mutagenesis and size exclusion chromatography for the first time that the TPR1 and TPR2B domains of Hop independently dimerized, and that the dimerization of TPR2B was not dependent on its predicted two-carboxylate clamp residues. Furthermore, our data indicated that the dimerization of Hop and its domains was not disrupted in the presence of Hsp70 and Hsp90 peptides.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Epistemological access as an open question in education
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:21219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7123 , http://joe.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/No_46_June_2009/Epistemological_access_as_an_open_question_in_education.sflb.ashx
- Description: In his book Learning to Teach in South Africa Morrow (2007)1 argues that teacher education’s ultimate aim is to enable epistemological access2 to knowledge in the modern world, and that there is a need to find new ways of thinking about teaching in South Africa if we are to meet the challenge of enabling all learners to gain such epistemological access. Morrow relates problems of epistemological access to the dominance of an empiricist epistemology in education, and he also comments on how this is obscured by the ideologies of Outcomes Based Education and learner-centred education (with attendant constructivist, relativist assumptions about knowledge). These problems, he argues, have come to shape curriculum thinking, and hence teaching practice, creating a muddled epistemological context in which teaching practices are taking place. He argues for a realist focus but he does not elaborate on what such a realist focus might mean for enabling epistemological access or for associated teaching practice or for teacher education. He does, however, propose that systematic learning is a necessary way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:21219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7123 , http://joe.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/No_46_June_2009/Epistemological_access_as_an_open_question_in_education.sflb.ashx
- Description: In his book Learning to Teach in South Africa Morrow (2007)1 argues that teacher education’s ultimate aim is to enable epistemological access2 to knowledge in the modern world, and that there is a need to find new ways of thinking about teaching in South Africa if we are to meet the challenge of enabling all learners to gain such epistemological access. Morrow relates problems of epistemological access to the dominance of an empiricist epistemology in education, and he also comments on how this is obscured by the ideologies of Outcomes Based Education and learner-centred education (with attendant constructivist, relativist assumptions about knowledge). These problems, he argues, have come to shape curriculum thinking, and hence teaching practice, creating a muddled epistemological context in which teaching practices are taking place. He argues for a realist focus but he does not elaborate on what such a realist focus might mean for enabling epistemological access or for associated teaching practice or for teacher education. He does, however, propose that systematic learning is a necessary way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Cultivating a scholarly community of practice
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Ellery, Karen, Olvitt, Lausanne L, Schudel, Ingrid J, O'Donoghue, Rob
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ellery, Karen , Olvitt, Lausanne L , Schudel, Ingrid J , O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69777 , vital:29579 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15102
- Description: In the field of Environment and Sustainability Education we are seeking ways of developing our teaching and supervision practices to enable social changes in a rapidly transforming field of practice where global issues of truth, judgement, justice and sustainability define our engagements with the public good. This article explores the process of cultivating a scholarly community of practice as a model of supervision that not only engages scholars in an intellectual community oriented towards socio-ecological transformation, but also extends and enhances dialogue with individuals on the technical and theoretical aspects of their postgraduate studies.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ellery, Karen , Olvitt, Lausanne L , Schudel, Ingrid J , O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69777 , vital:29579 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC15102
- Description: In the field of Environment and Sustainability Education we are seeking ways of developing our teaching and supervision practices to enable social changes in a rapidly transforming field of practice where global issues of truth, judgement, justice and sustainability define our engagements with the public good. This article explores the process of cultivating a scholarly community of practice as a model of supervision that not only engages scholars in an intellectual community oriented towards socio-ecological transformation, but also extends and enhances dialogue with individuals on the technical and theoretical aspects of their postgraduate studies.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Changing energy profiles and consumption patterns following electrification in five rural villages, South Africa
- Madubansi, Mainza, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Madubansi, Mainza , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6640 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006866
- Description: Following the democratic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s the government has implemented a widespread electrification programme, as well as introduced a free basic electricity allowance as a means of poverty alleviation. Yet there are limited longitudinal studies on the impacts of the introduction of electricity on the patterns of household energy use, and even more so in the neglected rural sector. This study reports on the patterns of household energy use in five rural settlements in 1991 and again in 2002. Results indicate a changing pattern of energy use for lighting and powering entertainment appliances, more specifically from dry-cell batteries and paraffin to electricity. Yet for thermal needs, most notably cooking, fuelwood has remained the most widespread fuel, and the amount used per month has not changed, despite increasing scarcity of wood in the local environment. There has been an increase in the proportion of households purchasing fuelwood as opposed to collecting their own. Overall, the mean total number of fuel types used per household has increased, indicating that electricity is simply viewed as an additional energy, rather than an alternative. Yet, electricity accounted for approximately 60% of expenditure on energy sources in 2002, despite the government's policy of a free basic allowance of 5–6 kWh per month. This has implications for energy supply costing, as well as the poverty alleviation dimensions of the whole programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Madubansi, Mainza , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6640 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006866
- Description: Following the democratic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s the government has implemented a widespread electrification programme, as well as introduced a free basic electricity allowance as a means of poverty alleviation. Yet there are limited longitudinal studies on the impacts of the introduction of electricity on the patterns of household energy use, and even more so in the neglected rural sector. This study reports on the patterns of household energy use in five rural settlements in 1991 and again in 2002. Results indicate a changing pattern of energy use for lighting and powering entertainment appliances, more specifically from dry-cell batteries and paraffin to electricity. Yet for thermal needs, most notably cooking, fuelwood has remained the most widespread fuel, and the amount used per month has not changed, despite increasing scarcity of wood in the local environment. There has been an increase in the proportion of households purchasing fuelwood as opposed to collecting their own. Overall, the mean total number of fuel types used per household has increased, indicating that electricity is simply viewed as an additional energy, rather than an alternative. Yet, electricity accounted for approximately 60% of expenditure on energy sources in 2002, despite the government's policy of a free basic allowance of 5–6 kWh per month. This has implications for energy supply costing, as well as the poverty alleviation dimensions of the whole programme.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Violence and the cultural logics of pain: representations of sexuality in the work of Nicholas Hlobo and Zanele Muholi
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147814 , vital:38675 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/02560046.2012.723843
- Description: Nicholas Hlobo and Zanele Muholi have raised critical issues regarding sexual identity in patriarchal contexts since they premiered at the Michael Stevenson Gallery in 2005. Nicholas Hlobo, a sculptor and performance artist, and Zanele Muholi, a photographer and activist, explore different ways of representing sexuality – in particular, homosexuality. Hlobo investigates notions of masculinity and the practice of circumcision, while Muholi documents the existence of transgender and homosexuality in township spaces (her recent work expands to various other spaces). This article focuses on the roles that violence plays in the sexual politics represented in Hlobo and Muholi’s work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147814 , vital:38675 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/02560046.2012.723843
- Description: Nicholas Hlobo and Zanele Muholi have raised critical issues regarding sexual identity in patriarchal contexts since they premiered at the Michael Stevenson Gallery in 2005. Nicholas Hlobo, a sculptor and performance artist, and Zanele Muholi, a photographer and activist, explore different ways of representing sexuality – in particular, homosexuality. Hlobo investigates notions of masculinity and the practice of circumcision, while Muholi documents the existence of transgender and homosexuality in township spaces (her recent work expands to various other spaces). This article focuses on the roles that violence plays in the sexual politics represented in Hlobo and Muholi’s work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Violence, postcolonial fiction, and the limits of sympathy:
- Authors: Marais, Mike
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143993 , vital:38301 , DOI: 10.1353/sdn.2011.0034
- Description: In this article, I consider the implications for fiction of Slavo Zizek’s argument that the violence of individual subjects is informed by ‘symbolic violence’ (1-2), that is, the distortions concomitant on languages’s constitutive, rather than merely referential, relation to the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Marais, Mike
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143993 , vital:38301 , DOI: 10.1353/sdn.2011.0034
- Description: In this article, I consider the implications for fiction of Slavo Zizek’s argument that the violence of individual subjects is informed by ‘symbolic violence’ (1-2), that is, the distortions concomitant on languages’s constitutive, rather than merely referential, relation to the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Responding to poverty in the light of the post-development debate: Some insights from the NGO Enda Graf Sahel
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142487 , vital:38084 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ad/article/view/135799
- Description: How can we take on board the many valuable insights of post-development theory without seeming to advocate indifference and inaction in the face of the misery that many people in the world experience daily? In this paper, I provide a partial response to this question. I begin by looking at some of the alternative strategies offered in post-development literature and set out to show that while there are several problems with these alternatives, to read post-development theory as advocating indifference or inaction is to read it uncharitably. Secondly, I draw on the experiences of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Enda Graf Sahel in Dakar, Senegal to suggest some ways in which the insights of post-development theory, or some versions of post-development theory, can be taken into consideration without leading to inaction or indifference in the face of the suffering of those who occupy a less advantaged position in contemporary relations of power and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142487 , vital:38084 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ad/article/view/135799
- Description: How can we take on board the many valuable insights of post-development theory without seeming to advocate indifference and inaction in the face of the misery that many people in the world experience daily? In this paper, I provide a partial response to this question. I begin by looking at some of the alternative strategies offered in post-development literature and set out to show that while there are several problems with these alternatives, to read post-development theory as advocating indifference or inaction is to read it uncharitably. Secondly, I draw on the experiences of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Enda Graf Sahel in Dakar, Senegal to suggest some ways in which the insights of post-development theory, or some versions of post-development theory, can be taken into consideration without leading to inaction or indifference in the face of the suffering of those who occupy a less advantaged position in contemporary relations of power and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
What are the best and worst times in the lives of South African township dwellers? A content analysis of the self-defined end-anchors for Bernheim’s ACSA scale of subjective well-being
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Theuns, P
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67155 , vital:29042 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0073-1
- Description: publisher version , Bernheim’s ACSA, a less conventional measure of subjective well-being originally developed for use in a clinical setting, was applied to a sample of black South African township dwellers (n = 1,020) in the Eastern Cape Province. The Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment is an experiential self-anchoring scale with concrete anchors (Bernheim in Psychologie médicale 15:1625–1626, 1983). Respondents described the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ periods experienced in their lives in their own words and rated their current life situation within these two extremes that served as the end-anchors of an 11-point rating scale, ACSA. The ACSA score was significantly positively correlated with conventional measures of subjective well-being. The study examined in detail the content of the ACSA anchors, the best and worst periods of respondents’ lives, classified by domain, to gain insights into reference comparisons applied in quality-of-life evaluation in a developing country setting. As was the case in earlier ACSA studies, most domains that served as reference standards were related to the self and family life. However, material living standards, represented by the domains of income, financial security and housing also featured prominently as personal anchors—a reflection of life goals in post-apartheid South Africa. Age, gender, education and self-reported health were associated with the choice of select anchors. The discussion provides pointers for future applications of ACSA in large sample surveys using a pre-coded multiple-choice format for anchor descriptions. It is concluded that the content of ACSA anchors corresponds closely to contemporary definitions of the good life among ordinary South Africans.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Moller, Valerie , Theuns, P
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67155 , vital:29042 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0073-1
- Description: publisher version , Bernheim’s ACSA, a less conventional measure of subjective well-being originally developed for use in a clinical setting, was applied to a sample of black South African township dwellers (n = 1,020) in the Eastern Cape Province. The Anamnestic Comparative Self Assessment is an experiential self-anchoring scale with concrete anchors (Bernheim in Psychologie médicale 15:1625–1626, 1983). Respondents described the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ periods experienced in their lives in their own words and rated their current life situation within these two extremes that served as the end-anchors of an 11-point rating scale, ACSA. The ACSA score was significantly positively correlated with conventional measures of subjective well-being. The study examined in detail the content of the ACSA anchors, the best and worst periods of respondents’ lives, classified by domain, to gain insights into reference comparisons applied in quality-of-life evaluation in a developing country setting. As was the case in earlier ACSA studies, most domains that served as reference standards were related to the self and family life. However, material living standards, represented by the domains of income, financial security and housing also featured prominently as personal anchors—a reflection of life goals in post-apartheid South Africa. Age, gender, education and self-reported health were associated with the choice of select anchors. The discussion provides pointers for future applications of ACSA in large sample surveys using a pre-coded multiple-choice format for anchor descriptions. It is concluded that the content of ACSA anchors corresponds closely to contemporary definitions of the good life among ordinary South Africans.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2013