List of Titles

Institutionalising service-learning

Authors: Hlengwa, Amanda I
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: vital:29685 , http://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC131578
Description: Higher education has three core pillars: teaching, research and community engagement. Teaching and research endeavours have dominated university agendas. However, momentum in prioritising community engagement is growing. The developing emphasis placed on the third pillar raises an opportunity to investigate how community engagement is conceptualised and therefore prioritised within the higher education landscape. Community engagement is expressed as a continuum in higher education inclusive of five overlapping activities of which service-learning is just one. This paper outlines what service-learning is and its potential role in the transformation of higher education, as well as to signal the importance of institutional commitment to service-learning. Lastly, the paper offers a synthesis of the available literature on how to implement successfully service-learning modules.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Natural enemies from South Africa for biological control of Lagarosiphon major (Ridl.) Moss ex Wager (Hydrocharitaceae) in Europe

- Baars, Jan-Robert, Coetzee, Julie A, Martin, Grant D, Hill, Martin P, Caffrey, J M

Authors: Baars, Jan-Robert , Coetzee, Julie A , Martin, Grant D , Hill, Martin P , Caffrey, J M
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76914 , vital:30637 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0427-0
Description: The non-native invasive plant, Lagarosiphon major (Hydrocharitaceae) is a submersed aquatic macrophyte that poses a significant threat to water bodies in Europe. Dense infestations prove difficult to manage using traditional methods. In order to initiate a biocontrol programme, a survey for natural enemies of Lagarosiphon was conducted in South Africa. Several phytophagous species were recorded for the first time, with at least three showing notable promise as candidate agents. Amongst these, a leaf-mining fly, Hydrellia sp. (Ephydridae) that occurred over a wide distribution causes significant leaf damage despite high levels of parasitism by braconid wasps. Another yet unidentified fly was recorded mining the stem of L. major. Two leaf-feeding and shoot boring weevils, cf. Bagous sp. (Curculionidae) were recorded damaging the shoot tips and stunting the growth of the stem. Several leaf-feeding lepidopteran species (Nymphulinae) were frequently recorded, but are expected to feed on a wide range of plant species and are not considered for importation before other candidates are assessed. The discovery of several natural enemies in the country of origin improves the biological control prospects of L. major in Europe.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Quick View

Public green space inequality in small towns in South Africa

- McConnachie, Matthew M, Shackleton, Charlie M

Authors: McConnachie, Matthew M , Shackleton, Charlie M
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6644 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006874
Description: The distribution of public green space within towns is frequently uneven, and influenced by attributes such as its location relative to the commercial core, as well as the ethnicity and relative wealth and education of the residents. Yet most studies are from large cities in developed countries. In contrast, this study reports on the distribution of public green space across 9 small towns in a developing country, namely South Africa, which offers a unique case study because of its former racially defined settlement patterns. We do so using GIS analysis of aerial photographs focusing on 3 types of suburbs in each town, defined on the basis of wealth as well as race-based history under the previous apartheid regime. The more affluent suburbs, inhabited mainly by whites, have the lowest density of housing and the highest area of green space per capita. Proportionally, they have a similar area under public green space as to the previously racially defined townships, but because of the lower housing density, they have a greater area per person. The newly built low-cost housing areas (termed RDP suburbs), occupied largely by poor black South Africans, are poorly endowed with public green space, and fare worse than the other 2 suburb types on all attributes measured. This needs to be addressed in further low-cost housing developments.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Quick View

Reproductive biology of a riverine cyprinid, Labeo umbratus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), in small South African reservoirs

- Potts, Warren M, Booth, Anthony J, Hecht, Thomas, Andrew, Timothy G

Authors: Potts, Warren M , Booth, Anthony J , Hecht, Thomas , Andrew, Timothy G
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125854 , vital:35826 , https://doi.10.2989/16085910509503849
Description: The reproductive and recruitment characteristics of moggel, Labeo umbratus, populations were examined in four small South African reservoirs. Reproduction, characterised by an extended spawning season, high fecundity, short incubation time and rapid larval development, appears to be ideally suited to the highly variable environment of small reservoirs. Evidence suggested that L. umbratus spawns in the reservoirs. In two reservoirs where samples were conducted monthly, GSI (gonado-somatic index) was positively correlated with both water temperature and day length, whilst the CPUE (catch per unit effort) of juveniles was not related to any environmental variable. The success of moggel spawning appeared to increase when there was early spring and consistent summer rainfall.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Quick View

Technology solutions to strengthen the integration of marginalized communities into the global knowledge society

- Hlungulu, Bulumko, Kunjuzwa, Dumani, Ndlovu, Nyankiso, Samalenge, Jimmy, Sikhumbuzo, Ngwenya, Thinyane, Mamello, Terzoli, Alfredo

Authors: Hlungulu, Bulumko , Kunjuzwa, Dumani , Ndlovu, Nyankiso , Samalenge, Jimmy , Sikhumbuzo, Ngwenya , Thinyane, Mamello , Terzoli, Alfredo
Date: 2010
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430769 , vital:72714 , https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5753005
Description: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made it possible to explore novel and innovative mechanisms to leap-frog socio-economic development in rural and marginalized communities. An ICT for development intervention called Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) has been underway in Dwesa, a rural community in the Eastern Cape Prov-ince, for the past four years. The living lab methodology, which enables user-driven innovation within a multi-stakeholder relationship of aca-demia, user communities, government and private industry, has facili-tated greater integration of the Dwesa community into the digital ecolo-gy and subsequently the knowledge society. This paper introduces the SLL intervention, discusses the SLL's supporting technical infrastruc-ture and the interventions that are undertaken towards long-term sus-tainability of the project. The developed eServices are also discussed, with a view to highlighting the key characteristics that contribute to in-creased context-sensitivity, ownership, and buy-in from the community.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Quick View

Using local experts as benchmarks for household local ecological knowledge: scoring in South African savannas

- Steele, Melita Z, Shackleton, Charlie M

Authors: Steele, Melita Z , Shackleton, Charlie M
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6660 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007084
Description: It is well recognised that local ecological knowledge is an important facet of natural resource management in rural regions of the developing world. However, techniques to assess levels and to integrate it into formal or informal management approaches require further development. In particular, quantitative tools are missing, which would allow more robust analysis of the factors that positively or negatively affect local ecological knowledge and vice versa. This paper reports on a quick assessment approach that provides a quantitative score of generalist local ecological knowledge at the household level. It does so by comparing responses to the knowledge of local people identified as experts within the community. In this way it is both locally constructed and contextualized, and thereby avoids pitfalls of trying to score local ecological knowledge relative to conventional scientific knowledge which frequently cannot account for local constructs. The approach is applied at eight villages throughout the savanna biome in South Africa.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2010

Quick View

Exploring risk related to future climates through role-playing games: the African catchment game

- Rowntree, Kate M, Fraenkel, Linda A, Fox, Roddy C

Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Conference paper
Identifier: vital:6671 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006807
Description: Risk is the result of two interacting components: hazard and vulnerability. Climatic hazards are related to extrinsic factors such as drought or severe storms. Vul- nerability is the result of intrinsic factors that often arise from the socio-political- economic context. The interplay of risk and vulnerability is difficult to predict. Although computer models have been widely used to forecast climate related risk, albeit with con- siderable uncertainty, they can never capture sufficiently the vulnerability of human sys- tems to these hazards. Role-playing games can be used more realistically to simulate pos- sible outcomes of different climate change scenarios, and allow players to reflect on their significance. The authors have developed the African Catchment Game to simulate a wa- ter scarce African country. Risk can be modelled mechanistically by changing the nature of the annual rainfall input. Vulnerability can in part be modelled by changing the start- ing parameters (such as access to land and resources) and, secondly, through the unpredictable response of players to game dynamics. Players’ reflections demonstrate that through the game they become more aware of the concept of risk and the complex response of individuals and societies that determine their vulnerability to climatic hazards. This paper reflects on the potential for developing the game further as a tool for participatory learning around climate change, based on the authors’ experience of playing the game with participants from South Africa.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2009

Quick View

Integrating environmental flow requirements into a stakeholder driven catchment management process

- Rowntree, Kate M, Birkholz, Sharon A, Burt, Jane C, Fox, Helen E

Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Birkholz, Sharon A , Burt, Jane C , Fox, Helen E
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Conference paper
Identifier: vital:6670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006804
Description: South Africa's National Water Act (NWA no 36 of 1998) recognizes the need for environmental protection through the ecological Reserve, defined in the Act as the quantity and quality of water required to protect aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development through the constrained use of the relevant water resource. Further more the NWA stipulates that the allocation of licenses to new water users, or the granting of increased water use to established water users, can only take place once the the Reserve for the river has been determined and approved by the Minister. This means that water users' needs (beyond those required for basic human needs) take second place behind the environment. Whether or not the inclusion of the ecological Reserve in South Africa's water legislation leads to sustainable use of South Africa's water resources depends on its successful implementation. This in turn depends on the will of both the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), the implementing agent, and the end water users who need to be convinced of the priority given to environmental needs. In this paper we look at the process of implementing the ecological Reserve in the Kat Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as part of a stakeholder driven process of developing a water allocation plan for the catchment that prioritized participation by water users. The extent to which DWAF and the water users expedited or thwarted the process is examined in the light of national and international calls for local-level participation in water resource management processes.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2009

Quick View

Of fences and peace between neighbours

- Krüger, Rósaan

Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68909 , vital:29338 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC85309
Description: Publisher version , The speaker in the poem "Mending Wall" by American poet Robert Frost questions the wisdom of the saying that "Good Fences Make Good Neighbo[u]rs" (1914 North of Boston lines 27 and 45). The walls or fences referred to in the poem represent more than just physical barriers separating adjacent premises; the speaker sees them as representing obstacles to communication and friendship between individuals. Seen from the perspective of the speaker, a fence or wall is a "bad" thing. But the speaker is but one of the parties to the neighbourly relationship. For the speaker's neighbour, a wall or a fence is "a protector of privacy" (Watson "Frost's Wall : The View from the Other Side" 1971 44 The New England Quarterly 653 655). Thus there are two views on walls or fences: they can be seen negatively as obstructing good relations, or positively as dividers that secure good relations between neighbours by separating them and protecting their privacy rights.
Full Text: false
Date Issued: 2009

Quick View

The ataxia protein sacsin is a functional co-chaperone that protects against polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1

- Parfitt, David A, Michael, Gregory J, Vermeulen, Esmeralda G M, Prodromou, Natalia V, Webb, Tom R, Gallo, Jean-Marc, Cheetham, Michael E, Nicoll, William S, Blatch, Gregory L, Chapple, J Paul

Authors: Parfitt, David A , Michael, Gregory J , Vermeulen, Esmeralda G M , Prodromou, Natalia V , Webb, Tom R , Gallo, Jean-Marc , Cheetham, Michael E , Nicoll, William S , Blatch, Gregory L , Chapple, J Paul
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6485 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006262 , http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/9/1556
Description: An extensive protein–protein interaction network has been identified between proteins implicated in inherited ataxias. The protein sacsin, which is mutated in the early-onset neurodegenerative disease autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay, is a node in this interactome. Here, we have established the neuronal expression of sacsin and functionally characterized domains of the 4579 amino acid protein. Sacsin is most highly expressed in large neurons, particularly within brain motor systems, including cerebellar Purkinje cells. Its subcellular localization in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells was predominantly cytoplasmic with a mitochondrial component. We identified a putative ubiquitin-like (UbL) domain at the N-terminus of sacsin and demonstrated an interaction with the proteasome. Furthermore, sacsin contains a predicted J-domain, the defining feature of DnaJ/Hsp40 proteins. Using a bacterial complementation assay, the sacsin J-domain was demonstrated to be functional. The presence of both UbL and J-domains in sacsin suggests that it may integrate the ubiquitin–proteasome system and Hsp70 function to a specific cellular role. The Hsp70 chaperone machinery is an important component of the cellular response towards aggregation prone mutant proteins that are associated with neurodegenerative diseases. We therefore investigated the effects of siRNA-mediated sacsin knockdown on polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1. Importantly, SACS siRNA did not affect cell viability with GFP-ataxin-1[30Q], but enhanced the toxicity of GFP-ataxin- 1[82Q], suggesting that sacsin is protective against mutant ataxin-1. Thus, sacsin is an ataxia protein and a regulator of the Hsp70 chaperone machinery that is implicated in the processing of other ataxialinked proteins.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2009

Quick View

Treating posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa : an integrative model grounded in case-based research

- Edwards, David J A

Authors: Edwards, David J A
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6232 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007782
Description: The article presents a model for formulating and planning treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in South Africa derived from the existing literature and in conjunction with a review of a series of studies of cases treated using the guidelines of Ehlers and Clark's cognitive therapy. It is argued that the construction of psychotherapies (or even components of psychotherapy) for PTSD in terms of traditional categories ("psychodynamic", "cognitive-behavioural", "narrative" etc.) is misleading and unhelpful. Instead, superordinate concepts derived from thinking about evidence-based practice provide a more grounded focus on the practical issues faced by therapists treating PTSD. These concepts, which include competences and metcacompetences, therapist responsiveness, stages of therapy and case formulation, provide a basis for a genuinely integrative approach. The proposed model suggests seven broad areas of clinical focus for work with PTSD which can be arranged at three levels of priority: level 1 crisis intervention and stabilization; level 2 promoting engagement with treatment, and level 3 selection, sequencing and timing of active treatment interventions. Material from the case series is used to illustrate the application of the model.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2009

Quick View

Coming to terms with the "Border War" in post-apartheid South Africa

- Baines, Gary F

Authors: Baines, Gary F
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: Conference paper
Identifier: vital:6157 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007077
Description: If you are a white, male South African between the ages of about 35 and 60 it is very likely that you donned the nutria brown uniform of the South African Defence Force (SADF). Between 1967 and 1994 approximately 300 000 young white males were conscripted by the SADF. As far as most of these conscripts were concerned, there was no option other than heeding the call-up and performing national service or diensplig. Failure to do so meant harsh penalties. The alternatives were to object on conscientious (actually religious) grounds and face a six year jail sentence, or flee the country. And the obligation did not end with national service as conscripts were assigned to citizen force or commando units that were liable for periodical call-ups for camps that might have included deployment in the “operational areas” from 1974 or tours of duty in the black townships from 1984. Those - like myself - belonging to this national service generation were part-time soldiers for much of their adult lives. Most served willingly, some with patriotic fervour. Others did so reluctantly and with little enthusiasm.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Quick View

Development and validation of the Xhosa translations of the Beck Inventories: 1. Challenges of the translation process

- Steele, Gary I, Edwards, David J A

Authors: Steele, Gary I , Edwards, David J A
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6248 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007866
Description: This article describes the translation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Beck Hopeless Scale, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory, into Xhosa the language spoken in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The processes of translation, back-translation and committee discussion failed to yield trustworthy translations because of practical difficulties in working with translators. Critical words and phrases were identified which gave rise to lack of agreement. For each, a range of options was generated and the advantages and disadvantages evaluated in terms of criteria such as conceptual and idiomatic equivalence, and extensiveness of usage. Examples are given of the problems encountered and the way in which final decisions were made. A pilot clinical trial demonstrated the acceptability of the translated Instruments. Two further articles report the psychometric evaluation of the translated scales.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Quick View

Household attributes promote diversity of tree holdings in rural areas, South Africa:

- Shackleton, Charlie M, Paumgarten, Fiona, Cocks, Michelle L

Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Paumgarten, Fiona , Cocks, Michelle L
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141301 , vital:37960 , DOI: 10.1007/s10457-007-9066-5
Description: Trees within the homestead area provide many functions to rural households. However, within the semi-arid regions of southern Africa, there has been only limited examination of the correlates between the socio-economic attributes of rural households and the density, species richness and types of trees they keep. This paper reports on a multivariate analysis of household attributes in relation to homestead tree holdings from six rural villages in South Africa. In terms of density of trees per household, gender of the household head was the only significant correlate, with female-headed households having significantly fewer trees than their male-headed counterparts. This was especially so for the density of indigenous trees.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Quick View

Retrospective stock assessment of the Emperor red snapper (Lutjanus sebae) on the Seychelles Bank between 1977 and 2006

- Grandcourt, E M, Hecht, Thomas, Booth, Anthony J, Robinson, J

Authors: Grandcourt, E M , Hecht, Thomas , Booth, Anthony J , Robinson, J
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125887 , vital:35829 , https://doi.10.1093/icesjms/fsn064
Description: The Emperor red snapper, Lutjanus sebae, known as “Bourzwa” in the Seychelles, is distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific from the southern Red Sea and East Africa to New Caledonia, north to Japan and south to Australia. It occurs near coral or rocky reefs and also over adjacent sand flats and gravel patches between 5 and 180 m deep (Allen, 1985; Anderson, 1986). Juveniles are frequently commensal with sea urchins (Kuiter and Tonozuka, 2001), and are found in nearshore, turbid waters (Williams and Russ, 1992), mangrove areas (Allen, 1985), and around coastal and offshore reefs (Williams and Russ, 1992). Larger L. sebae are generally found deeper, although they are also known to move into shallower water during winter (McPherson et al., 1988; Williams and Russ, 1992). Prey items include fish, crabs, other benthic crustaceans, and cephalopods. Lutjanus sebae is a large, long-lived species, attaining a maximum size of 116 cm fork length (McPherson and Squire, 1992) and maximum age of 34 years (Newman and Dunk, 2002). Despite an absence of data on its population structure, mixing, and identity, the population on the Seychelles Bank has been considered to be a unit stock for assessment purposes because of its remote location (e.g. Lablache and Carrara, 1988; Mees, 1992).
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Quick View

The synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of water soluble manganese phthalocyanines: Anion radical versus Mn(I) species

- Sehlotho, Nthapo, Durmuş, Mahmut, Ahsen, N, Nyokong, Tebello

Authors: Sehlotho, Nthapo , Durmuş, Mahmut , Ahsen, N , Nyokong, Tebello
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6596 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004345
Description: The following MnPc derivatives were synthesized: 1,(4)-tetra-(2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato manganese(III)(OH) (5a), quaternized 1,(4)-tetra-(2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato manganese(III)(OH) (5b), 2,(3)-tetra-(2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato manganese(III)(OH) (6a) and quaternized 2,(3)-tetra-(2-mercaptopyridine) phthalocyaninato manganese(III)(OH)(6b). Spectro-electrochemistry shows that the reduction of Mn(II)Pc to Mn(I)Pc occurs only when the complexes are in their quaternized form (5b and 6b). The reduction (to Mn(I)Pc(−2)) of the quaternized form occurs at a lower potential than that (to Mn(II)Pc(−3)) of the unquaternized form. This observation suggests that metal reduction (to Mn(I)Pc(−2)) versus ligand reduction (to Mn(II)Pc(−3)) in Mn(II)Pc complexes depends on the nature of the ring substituents.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Quick View

Towards revised physically based parameter estimation methods for the Pitman monthly rainfall-runoff model

- Kapangaziwiri, Evison, Hughes, Denis A

Authors: Kapangaziwiri, Evison , Hughes, Denis A
Date: 2008
Language: English
Type: text , Article
Identifier: vital:7088 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012417
Description: This paper presents a preliminary stage in the development of an alternative parameterisation procedure for the Pitman monthly rainfall runoff model which enjoys popular use in water resource assessment in Southern Africa. The estimation procedures are based on the premise that it is possible to use physical basin properties directly in the quantification of the soil moisture accounting, runoff, and recharge and infiltration parameters. The results for selected basins show that the revised parameters are at least as good as current regionalised sets or give satisfactory results in areas where no regionalised parameters exist.
Full Text:
Date Issued: 2008

Showing items 141 - 160 of 270