The snake family Psammophiidae (Reptilia: Serpentes): phylogenetics and species delimitation in the African sand snakes (Psammophis Boie, 1825) and allied genera
- Kelly, Christopher M R, Barker, Nigel P, Villet, Martin H, Broadley, Donald G, Branch, William R
- Authors: Kelly, Christopher M R , Barker, Nigel P , Villet, Martin H , Broadley, Donald G , Branch, William R
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6522 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005953
- Description: This study constitutes the first evolutionary investigation of the snake family Psammophiidae—the most widespread, most clearly defined, yet perhaps the taxonomically most problematic of Africa's familylevel snake lineages. Little is known of psammophiid evolutionary relationships, and the type genus Psammophis is one of the largest and taxonomically most complex of the African snake genera. Our aims were to reconstruct psammophiid phylogenetic relationships and to improve characterisation of species boundaries in problematic Psammophis species complexes. We used approximately 2500 bases of DNA sequence from the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, and 114 terminals covering all psammophiid genera and incorporating approximately 75% of recognised species and subspecies. Phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted primarily in a Bayesian framework and we used the Wiens/Penkrot protocol to aid species delimitation. Rhamphiophis is diphyletic, with Rhamphiophis acutus emerging sister to Psammophylax. Consequently we transfer the three subspecies of Rhamphiophis acutus to the genus Psammophylax. The monotypic genus Dipsina is sister to Psammophis. The two species of Dromophis occupy divergent positions deeply nested within Psammophis, and we therefore relegate Dromophis to the synonymy of Psammophis. Our results allow division of the taxonomically problematic Psammophis 'sibilans' species complex into two monophyletic entities, provisionally named the 'phillipsii' and 'subtaeniatus' complexes. Within these two clades we found support for the status of many existing species, but not for a distinction between P.p. phillipsii and P. mossambicus. Additionally, P. cf. phillipsii occidentalis deserves species status as the sister taxon of P. brevirostris.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Kelly, Christopher M R , Barker, Nigel P , Villet, Martin H , Broadley, Donald G , Branch, William R
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6522 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005953
- Description: This study constitutes the first evolutionary investigation of the snake family Psammophiidae—the most widespread, most clearly defined, yet perhaps the taxonomically most problematic of Africa's familylevel snake lineages. Little is known of psammophiid evolutionary relationships, and the type genus Psammophis is one of the largest and taxonomically most complex of the African snake genera. Our aims were to reconstruct psammophiid phylogenetic relationships and to improve characterisation of species boundaries in problematic Psammophis species complexes. We used approximately 2500 bases of DNA sequence from the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, and 114 terminals covering all psammophiid genera and incorporating approximately 75% of recognised species and subspecies. Phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted primarily in a Bayesian framework and we used the Wiens/Penkrot protocol to aid species delimitation. Rhamphiophis is diphyletic, with Rhamphiophis acutus emerging sister to Psammophylax. Consequently we transfer the three subspecies of Rhamphiophis acutus to the genus Psammophylax. The monotypic genus Dipsina is sister to Psammophis. The two species of Dromophis occupy divergent positions deeply nested within Psammophis, and we therefore relegate Dromophis to the synonymy of Psammophis. Our results allow division of the taxonomically problematic Psammophis 'sibilans' species complex into two monophyletic entities, provisionally named the 'phillipsii' and 'subtaeniatus' complexes. Within these two clades we found support for the status of many existing species, but not for a distinction between P.p. phillipsii and P. mossambicus. Additionally, P. cf. phillipsii occidentalis deserves species status as the sister taxon of P. brevirostris.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of water soluble manganese phthalocyanines: Anion radical versus Mn(I) species
- Sehlotho, Nthapo, Durmuş, M, Ahsen, N, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Sehlotho, Nthapo , Durmuş, M , 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
- Authors: Sehlotho, Nthapo , Durmuş, M , 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
The WHO UNESCO FIP Pharmacy Education Taskforce: enabling concerted and collective global action
- Anderson, Claire, Bates, Ian, Beck, Diane, Brock, Tina, Futter, William T, Mercer, Hugo, Rouse, Mike, Wuliji, Tana, Yonemura, Akemi
- Authors: Anderson, Claire , Bates, Ian , Beck, Diane , Brock, Tina , Futter, William T , Mercer, Hugo , Rouse, Mike , Wuliji, Tana , Yonemura, Akemi
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6348 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006029 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-7-45
- Description: Pharmacy Education is a priority area for the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global federation representing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide that is spearheading the Global Pharmacy Education Taskforce. This paper describes the work of the Taskforce that was established in March 2008, explores key issues in pharmacy education development, and describes the Global Pharmacy Action Plan 2008-2010. Given the significance of pharmacy education to the diverse practice of contemporary pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel, there is a need for pharmacy education to attain greater visibility on the global human resources for health agenda. From this perspective, FIP is steering the development of holistic and comprehensive pharmacy education and pharmacy workforce action to support and strengthen regional, national, and local efforts. The role of a global organization such as FIP is to facilitate, catalyze, and share efforts to maximize pharmacy education development and stimulate international research to develop guidance, tools, and better understanding of key issues. To achieve this goal, FIP has (1) established a formal collaborative partnership with the 2 United Nations agencies representing the education and health sectors, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO); and (2) established the Global Pharmacy Education Taskforce to serve as the coordinating body of these efforts. The initial effort will serve to leverage strategic leadership and maximize the impact of collective actions at global, regional, and national levels. Three project teams have been convened to conduct research, consultations and develop guidance in the domains of vision for pharmacy education, competency, quality assurance, academic workforce, and institutional capacity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Anderson, Claire , Bates, Ian , Beck, Diane , Brock, Tina , Futter, William T , Mercer, Hugo , Rouse, Mike , Wuliji, Tana , Yonemura, Akemi
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6348 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006029 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-7-45
- Description: Pharmacy Education is a priority area for the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global federation representing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide that is spearheading the Global Pharmacy Education Taskforce. This paper describes the work of the Taskforce that was established in March 2008, explores key issues in pharmacy education development, and describes the Global Pharmacy Action Plan 2008-2010. Given the significance of pharmacy education to the diverse practice of contemporary pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel, there is a need for pharmacy education to attain greater visibility on the global human resources for health agenda. From this perspective, FIP is steering the development of holistic and comprehensive pharmacy education and pharmacy workforce action to support and strengthen regional, national, and local efforts. The role of a global organization such as FIP is to facilitate, catalyze, and share efforts to maximize pharmacy education development and stimulate international research to develop guidance, tools, and better understanding of key issues. To achieve this goal, FIP has (1) established a formal collaborative partnership with the 2 United Nations agencies representing the education and health sectors, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO); and (2) established the Global Pharmacy Education Taskforce to serve as the coordinating body of these efforts. The initial effort will serve to leverage strategic leadership and maximize the impact of collective actions at global, regional, and national levels. Three project teams have been convened to conduct research, consultations and develop guidance in the domains of vision for pharmacy education, competency, quality assurance, academic workforce, and institutional capacity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
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
- 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
Walter Oakley West (1930-2007) : obituary
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6703 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006739
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Lewis, Colin A
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6703 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006739
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Winds of change in teachers’ classroom assessment practice: a self-critical reflection on the teaching and learning of visual literacy in a rural Eastern Cape High School
- Authors: Mbelani, Madeyandile
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7021 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007201
- Description: The year 2006 saw the implementation of a new curriculum for teaching English First Additional Language (FAL) in grades 10-12 in South African high schools. The curriculum includes the teaching and assessment of visual literacy – a challenge for teachers whose apartheid-era teacher education did not address visual literacy at all. The article is a self-critical reflection on my attempts to teach and assess a unit on visual literacy in a Grade 10 class in a rural high school in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mbelani, Madeyandile
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7021 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007201
- Description: The year 2006 saw the implementation of a new curriculum for teaching English First Additional Language (FAL) in grades 10-12 in South African high schools. The curriculum includes the teaching and assessment of visual literacy – a challenge for teachers whose apartheid-era teacher education did not address visual literacy at all. The article is a self-critical reflection on my attempts to teach and assess a unit on visual literacy in a Grade 10 class in a rural high school in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Written out, writing in : orature in the South African literary canon
- Authors: Seddon, Deborah Ann
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:2263 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004695
- Description: As described by Duncan Brown, South African orature represents "our truly original contribution to world literature" (Brown, Voicing the Text 1). This paper explores how orature might be successfully 'written into' the South African literary canon whilst promoting recognition of its existence as an oral form. My recent experiences of the difficulties, challenges, and benefits of teaching South African orature within the Rhodes University English department, have alerted me to the urgent need for the creation of a student- and teacher-friendly anthology which would collect, re-voice, and adequately contextualise a selection of the seminal works of South African oral poets from the colonial to the post-apartheid periods. Much of this poetry already exists in print-form but, despite an increasing recognition of oral poetry through a number of endeavours such the Poetry Africa Festival, the Lentswe Poetry Project on SABC 2, the Timbila Poetry Project and others, South African orature remains marginal in the country's literary canon. It is largely absent from the curriculum in the literature departments of its universities. The need to redress this situation is crucial, but the process of setting up and teaching an undergraduate course in South African oral poetry, while possible, is complicated. The works of our most important oral poets are scattered in a variety of books, libraries, and collections. The usual process of drawing up a booklist of set texts is undermined by the stark reality that many of the books are out of print. Fully giving voice to these texts is even harder to achieve - CD and video recordings of performances (if they exist at all) are not easily accessed or disseminated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Seddon, Deborah Ann
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:2263 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004695
- Description: As described by Duncan Brown, South African orature represents "our truly original contribution to world literature" (Brown, Voicing the Text 1). This paper explores how orature might be successfully 'written into' the South African literary canon whilst promoting recognition of its existence as an oral form. My recent experiences of the difficulties, challenges, and benefits of teaching South African orature within the Rhodes University English department, have alerted me to the urgent need for the creation of a student- and teacher-friendly anthology which would collect, re-voice, and adequately contextualise a selection of the seminal works of South African oral poets from the colonial to the post-apartheid periods. Much of this poetry already exists in print-form but, despite an increasing recognition of oral poetry through a number of endeavours such the Poetry Africa Festival, the Lentswe Poetry Project on SABC 2, the Timbila Poetry Project and others, South African orature remains marginal in the country's literary canon. It is largely absent from the curriculum in the literature departments of its universities. The need to redress this situation is crucial, but the process of setting up and teaching an undergraduate course in South African oral poetry, while possible, is complicated. The works of our most important oral poets are scattered in a variety of books, libraries, and collections. The usual process of drawing up a booklist of set texts is undermined by the stark reality that many of the books are out of print. Fully giving voice to these texts is even harder to achieve - CD and video recordings of performances (if they exist at all) are not easily accessed or disseminated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
‘Who? what?’: an uninducted view of towards a new psychology of women from post-Apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6251 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007869 , http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959353508092088
- Description: From the text: Towards a New Psychology of Women (TPNW) promises a new psychology of “women”. On the cover of the second edition, the Toronto Globe and Mail is cited as acclaiming the book as “nothing short of revolutionary” as it “set out to recognize, re-define and understand the day-to-day experience of women”. But when we take a closer look at these “women” we discover that they are in fact “white”, (for the most part) middle-class women living in heterosexual relationships in a liberal democracy. This kind of exclusionary inclusion, in which the use of the generic term “woman” disguises the normative assumptions made about the race, class, sexual orientation and location of women, replicates the phallocentrism evidenced in the normalising masculinist terms “mankind” or “Man”. By now, of course, these kinds of critiques of “white” Western feminism by African American writers (e.g. Collins, 1999) postcolonial feminists (e.g. Mohanty, 1991), African feminists (e.g. Ogundipe-Leslie, 1994; Mangena, 2003), and queer theorists (e.g. Jackson, 1999) are well known.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6251 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007869 , http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959353508092088
- Description: From the text: Towards a New Psychology of Women (TPNW) promises a new psychology of “women”. On the cover of the second edition, the Toronto Globe and Mail is cited as acclaiming the book as “nothing short of revolutionary” as it “set out to recognize, re-define and understand the day-to-day experience of women”. But when we take a closer look at these “women” we discover that they are in fact “white”, (for the most part) middle-class women living in heterosexual relationships in a liberal democracy. This kind of exclusionary inclusion, in which the use of the generic term “woman” disguises the normative assumptions made about the race, class, sexual orientation and location of women, replicates the phallocentrism evidenced in the normalising masculinist terms “mankind” or “Man”. By now, of course, these kinds of critiques of “white” Western feminism by African American writers (e.g. Collins, 1999) postcolonial feminists (e.g. Mohanty, 1991), African feminists (e.g. Ogundipe-Leslie, 1994; Mangena, 2003), and queer theorists (e.g. Jackson, 1999) are well known.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An ambassador of science in Africa
- Authors: Peter, Kerry
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7191 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006355
- Description: Rhodes University's Professor Tebello Nyokong, has won the Africa-Arab State 2009 L'Oreal-Unesco Award for Women in Science for her pioneering research into photodynamic therapy which looks at harnessing light for cancer therapy and environmental cleanup. Prof Nyokong is the third South African Scientist to receive this award, and reaffirms Rhodes' place as one of the top research institutions in the country.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Peter, Kerry
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7191 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006355
- Description: Rhodes University's Professor Tebello Nyokong, has won the Africa-Arab State 2009 L'Oreal-Unesco Award for Women in Science for her pioneering research into photodynamic therapy which looks at harnessing light for cancer therapy and environmental cleanup. Prof Nyokong is the third South African Scientist to receive this award, and reaffirms Rhodes' place as one of the top research institutions in the country.
- Full Text:
Nyokong wins Prestigious L'Oreal - Unesco Award for Woman in Science
- Authors: Peter, Kerry
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7192 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006356
- Description: Rhodes University’s Professor Tebello Nyokong, has won the Africa-Arab State 2009 L’Oréal-Unesco Award for Women in Science for her pioneering research into photodynamic therapy which looks at harnessing light for cancer therapy and environmental clean-up. Nyokong is the third South African Scientist to receive this award, and reaffirms Rhodes’s place as one of the top research institutions in the country. University of Cape Town’s Professor Jennifer Thompson was previously recognised for her work on genetic engineering while Wits University’s Professor Valerie Mizrahi was recognised for her tuberculosis research.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Peter, Kerry
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7192 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006356
- Description: Rhodes University’s Professor Tebello Nyokong, has won the Africa-Arab State 2009 L’Oréal-Unesco Award for Women in Science for her pioneering research into photodynamic therapy which looks at harnessing light for cancer therapy and environmental clean-up. Nyokong is the third South African Scientist to receive this award, and reaffirms Rhodes’s place as one of the top research institutions in the country. University of Cape Town’s Professor Jennifer Thompson was previously recognised for her work on genetic engineering while Wits University’s Professor Valerie Mizrahi was recognised for her tuberculosis research.
- Full Text:
Tebello Nyokong
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7213 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006423
- Description: For most people, coming up with a research project that will lead to the introduction of a new treatment for cancer is a romantic aspiration that never really gets off the ground. But for Professor Nyokong, it is a goal in the process of being realised. DST /NRF professor of medicinal chemistry and nanotechnology at Rhodes's Department of Chemistry she is at the forefront of the introduction of advanced cancer-fighting drugs into the country.
- Full Text:
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7213 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006423
- Description: For most people, coming up with a research project that will lead to the introduction of a new treatment for cancer is a romantic aspiration that never really gets off the ground. But for Professor Nyokong, it is a goal in the process of being realised. DST /NRF professor of medicinal chemistry and nanotechnology at Rhodes's Department of Chemistry she is at the forefront of the introduction of advanced cancer-fighting drugs into the country.
- Full Text:
Top UN award for leading scientist
- National Research Foundation (NRF)
- Authors: National Research Foundation (NRF)
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7193 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006357
- Description: Professor Tebello Nyokong holds the DST/NRF funded chair in Medicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology at Rhodes University
- Full Text:
- Authors: National Research Foundation (NRF)
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7193 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006357
- Description: Professor Tebello Nyokong holds the DST/NRF funded chair in Medicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology at Rhodes University
- Full Text: