Conjuring our beings: Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali in conversational partnership
- Abe, Stacey Gillian, Mali, Immy
- Authors: Abe, Stacey Gillian , Mali, Immy
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145963 , vital:38482 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00457
- Description: The series of Conversational Partnerships began in 2017 in African Arts vol. 50, no. 2, with a conversation between two artists: Eria Nsubuga SANE from Uganda and Sikhumbuzo Makandula from South Africa. The format of a “conversational partnership” (Rubin and Rubin 2012: 7) emphasizes the cocreation of meaning by the interviewer and interviewee as coauthors. This enables a move away from the art history format of the interviewer (usually a writer) assuming the role of the sole author and the interviewee (often an artist) having no status as an author despite the fact that her or his practice-led creation of knowledge is foundational to the content of the interview. Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali participated in a joint artists' residency as part of the RAW program at Rhodes University in South Africa from November to December 2017. During this time, they engaged with each other's practice-led work, and they created this conversational partnership at a writing breakaway in the Eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Abe, Stacey Gillian , Mali, Immy
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145963 , vital:38482 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00457
- Description: The series of Conversational Partnerships began in 2017 in African Arts vol. 50, no. 2, with a conversation between two artists: Eria Nsubuga SANE from Uganda and Sikhumbuzo Makandula from South Africa. The format of a “conversational partnership” (Rubin and Rubin 2012: 7) emphasizes the cocreation of meaning by the interviewer and interviewee as coauthors. This enables a move away from the art history format of the interviewer (usually a writer) assuming the role of the sole author and the interviewee (often an artist) having no status as an author despite the fact that her or his practice-led creation of knowledge is foundational to the content of the interview. Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali participated in a joint artists' residency as part of the RAW program at Rhodes University in South Africa from November to December 2017. During this time, they engaged with each other's practice-led work, and they created this conversational partnership at a writing breakaway in the Eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
Fluorescence “turn-ON” nanosensor for cyanide ion using supramolecular hybrid of graphene quantum dots and cobalt pyrene-derivatized phthalocyanine
- Achadu, Ojodomo John, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Achadu, Ojodomo John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187594 , vital:44674 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.08.038"
- Description: A functional hybrid of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and cobalt pyrene-derivatized phthalocyanine (CoPc) used as a sensitive nanoprobe for the recognition of cyanide ion (CN−) is described in this work. The fluorescence of GQDs was quenched upon non-covalent (π-π stacking) hybrid formation with CoPc via a possible energy transfer pathway. However, in the presence of CN−, the interaction between GQDs and CoPc was perturbed, such that the fluorescence of GQDs initially quenched by CoPc was found to be efficiently recovered in the presence of CN−. Amongst the molecules and anions tested to ascertain their effects on the fluorescence behaviour of the hybrid, only CN− ion induced the tunable “off-on” restoration of the fluorescence of GQDs, which demonstrates the selectivity of the hybrid towards CN−. The restored fluorescence signals of the GQDs were linearly modulated by different concentrations of CN− and were used for the quantitative assay of CN− with high sensitivity coupled with rapid detection time. The detection was in the linear range of 1.0–50.0 nM with limits of detection (LOD) of 0.5 nM. The analysis of spiked samples for the recovery of CN− further demonstrated the applicability of the hybrid for the satisfactory detection of the target analyte.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Achadu, Ojodomo John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187594 , vital:44674 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.08.038"
- Description: A functional hybrid of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and cobalt pyrene-derivatized phthalocyanine (CoPc) used as a sensitive nanoprobe for the recognition of cyanide ion (CN−) is described in this work. The fluorescence of GQDs was quenched upon non-covalent (π-π stacking) hybrid formation with CoPc via a possible energy transfer pathway. However, in the presence of CN−, the interaction between GQDs and CoPc was perturbed, such that the fluorescence of GQDs initially quenched by CoPc was found to be efficiently recovered in the presence of CN−. Amongst the molecules and anions tested to ascertain their effects on the fluorescence behaviour of the hybrid, only CN− ion induced the tunable “off-on” restoration of the fluorescence of GQDs, which demonstrates the selectivity of the hybrid towards CN−. The restored fluorescence signals of the GQDs were linearly modulated by different concentrations of CN− and were used for the quantitative assay of CN− with high sensitivity coupled with rapid detection time. The detection was in the linear range of 1.0–50.0 nM with limits of detection (LOD) of 0.5 nM. The analysis of spiked samples for the recovery of CN− further demonstrated the applicability of the hybrid for the satisfactory detection of the target analyte.
- Full Text:
The tropical environment and malaria in southwestern Nigeria, 1861 – 1960
- Authors: Adetiba, Adedamola Seun
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Diseases and history -- Africa , Diseases and history -- Nigeria , Medical anthropology -- Africa , Medical anthropology -- Nigeria , Malaria -- Social aspects -- Nigeria , Malaria -- Nigeria -- History , Nigeria -- History , Imperialism -- Health aspects , Medicine -- Colonies -- Great Britain -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76564 , vital:30605
- Description: This thesis is a social history of malaria in southwestern Nigeria. It contributes to the burgeoning literature in the historiography of medicine, specifically the medicine and empire debate. Key to the issues raised in this thesis is the extent to which the limitations in colonial medical policies, most especially malaria control programmes, inspired critical and ingenious responses from African nationalists, doctors, patients, research volunteers, and indigenous medical practitioners. Challenged by a wide range of diseases and a paucity of health facilities and disease control schemes, African rural dwellers became medical pluralists in the ways they imagined and appropriated ideas of Western medicine alongside their indigenous medical practices. Beginning with a detailed historical exploration of the issues that informed the introduction of curative and preventive medicine in southwestern Nigeria, this thesis reveals the focus of colonial medicine. It exposes the one-sided nature of medical services in colonial spaces like southwestern Nigeria and the ways it shaped multifaceted responses from Africans, who were specifically side-lined till the 1950s when the rural medical service scheme was introduced. The focus of colonial medicine is drawn from relatively rich but often subjective historical evidence, such as a plethora of official reports of the department of medical and sanitary services, official correspondences within the colonial government in Lagos and Nigeria, and between the colonial government and the colonial office in the United Kingdom. Details of African responses to medical policies were garnered from newspaper publications and correspondences between the African public and the colonial government in Lagos. They reveal very interesting details of the ways Africans imagined, reimagined, and appropriated malaria control ideas and schemes. The central argument in this thesis is that attempts to control malaria in southwestern Nigeria till the 1950s, were shaped by a single concern to ameliorate the implications of the disease on the colonial state. It argues that this one-sided nature of malaria control programme informed the basis for medical pluralism in most rural spaces where African communities became patrons and sponsors of Western medicine and at the same time custodians of their indigenous medical practices. The series of justifications for the sustenance of these services were reinforced on the basis of the failure of the colonial state to guarantee the health needs of their colonial subjects. The aim of the thesis is to reinforce arguments that portray colonial medicine as a “tool of empire” but goes a bit further to explain the extent to which Africans related to this reality. It states quite categorically that Africans were not docile and silent, but that they acted decisively in ways that suited their varied interests and courses.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Adetiba, Adedamola Seun
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Diseases and history -- Africa , Diseases and history -- Nigeria , Medical anthropology -- Africa , Medical anthropology -- Nigeria , Malaria -- Social aspects -- Nigeria , Malaria -- Nigeria -- History , Nigeria -- History , Imperialism -- Health aspects , Medicine -- Colonies -- Great Britain -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76564 , vital:30605
- Description: This thesis is a social history of malaria in southwestern Nigeria. It contributes to the burgeoning literature in the historiography of medicine, specifically the medicine and empire debate. Key to the issues raised in this thesis is the extent to which the limitations in colonial medical policies, most especially malaria control programmes, inspired critical and ingenious responses from African nationalists, doctors, patients, research volunteers, and indigenous medical practitioners. Challenged by a wide range of diseases and a paucity of health facilities and disease control schemes, African rural dwellers became medical pluralists in the ways they imagined and appropriated ideas of Western medicine alongside their indigenous medical practices. Beginning with a detailed historical exploration of the issues that informed the introduction of curative and preventive medicine in southwestern Nigeria, this thesis reveals the focus of colonial medicine. It exposes the one-sided nature of medical services in colonial spaces like southwestern Nigeria and the ways it shaped multifaceted responses from Africans, who were specifically side-lined till the 1950s when the rural medical service scheme was introduced. The focus of colonial medicine is drawn from relatively rich but often subjective historical evidence, such as a plethora of official reports of the department of medical and sanitary services, official correspondences within the colonial government in Lagos and Nigeria, and between the colonial government and the colonial office in the United Kingdom. Details of African responses to medical policies were garnered from newspaper publications and correspondences between the African public and the colonial government in Lagos. They reveal very interesting details of the ways Africans imagined, reimagined, and appropriated malaria control ideas and schemes. The central argument in this thesis is that attempts to control malaria in southwestern Nigeria till the 1950s, were shaped by a single concern to ameliorate the implications of the disease on the colonial state. It argues that this one-sided nature of malaria control programme informed the basis for medical pluralism in most rural spaces where African communities became patrons and sponsors of Western medicine and at the same time custodians of their indigenous medical practices. The series of justifications for the sustenance of these services were reinforced on the basis of the failure of the colonial state to guarantee the health needs of their colonial subjects. The aim of the thesis is to reinforce arguments that portray colonial medicine as a “tool of empire” but goes a bit further to explain the extent to which Africans related to this reality. It states quite categorically that Africans were not docile and silent, but that they acted decisively in ways that suited their varied interests and courses.
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Antiplasmodial Activity of the n-Hexane Extract from Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex. Fr) P. Kumm
- Afieroho, Ozadheoghene E, Siwe-Noundou, Xavier, Onyia, Chiazor P, Festus, Osamuyi H, Chukwu, Elizabeth C, Adedokun, Olutayo M, Isaacs, Michelle, Hoppe, Heinrich, Krause, Rui W M, Abo, Kio A
- Authors: Afieroho, Ozadheoghene E , Siwe-Noundou, Xavier , Onyia, Chiazor P , Festus, Osamuyi H , Chukwu, Elizabeth C , Adedokun, Olutayo M , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich , Krause, Rui W M , Abo, Kio A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/194981 , vital:45516 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.4274/tjps.18894"
- Description: Objectives: Several mushrooms species have been reported to be nematophagous and antiprotozoan. This study reported the antiplasmodial and cytotoxic properties of the n-hexane extract from the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus and the isolation of a sterol from the extract. Materials and Methods: Antiplasmodial and cytotoxicity assays were done in vitro using the plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase assay and human HeLa cervical cell lines, respectively. The structure of the isolated compound from the n-hexane extract was elucidated using spectroscopic techniques. Results: The n-hexane extract (yield: 0.93% w/w) showed dose dependent antiplasmodial activity with the trend in parasite inhibition of: chloroquine (IC50=0.016 μg/mL) > n-hexane extract (IC50=25.18 μg/mL). It also showed mild cytotoxicity (IC50>100 μg/mL; selectivity index >4) compared to the reference drug emetine (IC50=0.013 μg/mL). The known sterol, ergostan-5,7,22-trien-3-ol, was isolated and characterized from the extract. Conclusion: This study reporting for the first time the antiplasmodial activity of P. ostreatus revealed its nutraceutical potential in the management of malaria.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Afieroho, Ozadheoghene E , Siwe-Noundou, Xavier , Onyia, Chiazor P , Festus, Osamuyi H , Chukwu, Elizabeth C , Adedokun, Olutayo M , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich , Krause, Rui W M , Abo, Kio A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/194981 , vital:45516 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.4274/tjps.18894"
- Description: Objectives: Several mushrooms species have been reported to be nematophagous and antiprotozoan. This study reported the antiplasmodial and cytotoxic properties of the n-hexane extract from the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus and the isolation of a sterol from the extract. Materials and Methods: Antiplasmodial and cytotoxicity assays were done in vitro using the plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase assay and human HeLa cervical cell lines, respectively. The structure of the isolated compound from the n-hexane extract was elucidated using spectroscopic techniques. Results: The n-hexane extract (yield: 0.93% w/w) showed dose dependent antiplasmodial activity with the trend in parasite inhibition of: chloroquine (IC50=0.016 μg/mL) > n-hexane extract (IC50=25.18 μg/mL). It also showed mild cytotoxicity (IC50>100 μg/mL; selectivity index >4) compared to the reference drug emetine (IC50=0.013 μg/mL). The known sterol, ergostan-5,7,22-trien-3-ol, was isolated and characterized from the extract. Conclusion: This study reporting for the first time the antiplasmodial activity of P. ostreatus revealed its nutraceutical potential in the management of malaria.
- Full Text:
Mainstreaming education for sustainable development: Elaborating the role of position-practice systems using seven laminations of scale
- Agbedahin, Adesuwa V, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa V , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182428 , vital:43829 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2019.1602975"
- Description: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 proposes that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should be included at all levels of education, known as ‘mainstreaming’. However, there is little guidance as to how to achieve this. ESD mainstreaming demands more than simply a technical policy transfer; it also requires attention to the position-practice systems of involved agents. This article critically assesses the mainstreaming of ESD in the case of university educators in Africa who have participated in the International Training Programme on ESD in higher education. It clarifies their position-practice systems in terms of Bhaskar’s seven laminations of scale. This article therefore provides a detailed description of the ways in which agents' position-practice systems enable and constrain ESD mainstreaming. It also demonstrates that a critical realist perspective can contribute towards the understanding and achievement of transformation towards sustainability and can help to ensure the flourishing of both current and future generations.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa V , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182428 , vital:43829 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2019.1602975"
- Description: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 proposes that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should be included at all levels of education, known as ‘mainstreaming’. However, there is little guidance as to how to achieve this. ESD mainstreaming demands more than simply a technical policy transfer; it also requires attention to the position-practice systems of involved agents. This article critically assesses the mainstreaming of ESD in the case of university educators in Africa who have participated in the International Training Programme on ESD in higher education. It clarifies their position-practice systems in terms of Bhaskar’s seven laminations of scale. This article therefore provides a detailed description of the ways in which agents' position-practice systems enable and constrain ESD mainstreaming. It also demonstrates that a critical realist perspective can contribute towards the understanding and achievement of transformation towards sustainability and can help to ensure the flourishing of both current and future generations.
- Full Text:
Eight decades of invasion by Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) and its biological control in West Africa: the story so far
- Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O, Adom, Medetissi, Day, Michael D, Uyi, Osariyekemwen, Egbon, Ikponmwosa N, Idemudia, I, Igbinosa, Igho B, Paterson, Iain D, Braimah, Haruna, Wilson, David D, Zachariades, Costas
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Adom, Medetissi , Day, Michael D , Uyi, Osariyekemwen , Egbon, Ikponmwosa N , Idemudia, I , Igbinosa, Igho B , Paterson, Iain D , Braimah, Haruna , Wilson, David D , Zachariades, Costas
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417450 , vital:71454 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1670782"
- Description: Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King and H. Robinson (Asteraceae) is a perennial weedy shrub of neotropical origin and a serious biotic threat in its invasive range. The Asian-West Africa (AWA) biotype of C. odorata present in West Africa is both morphologically and genetically different from the southern African (SA) biotype. The AWA biotype was first introduced into Nigeria in the late 1930s and rapidly spread across West Africa. Currently, 12 of the 16 countries in West Africa have been invaded, with significant negative effects on indigenous flora and fauna. However, locals in West Africa have found several uses for the weed. As chemical, physical and other conventional methods were unsustainable, costly and largely ineffective, three biological control agents, Apion brunneonigrum (Coleoptera: Brentidae), Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) and Cecidochares connexa (Diptera: Tephritidae), have been released in West Africa between the 1970s and the early 2000s. However, only C. connexa and P. pseudoinsulata established, contributing to the control of the weed, in six and four countries in West Africa respectively. Limited research funding, the absence of post-release evaluations of the established agents, and the ‘conflict of interest’ status of C. odorata (i.e. being beneficial for local use but damaging to ecosystem services and agriculture), are serious factors deterring the overall biological control effort. Here, using historical records and field surveys, we examine the invasion history, spread, impacts, and management of C. odorata in West Africa and make recommendations for the sustainable management of C. odorata in the region.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Adom, Medetissi , Day, Michael D , Uyi, Osariyekemwen , Egbon, Ikponmwosa N , Idemudia, I , Igbinosa, Igho B , Paterson, Iain D , Braimah, Haruna , Wilson, David D , Zachariades, Costas
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417450 , vital:71454 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1670782"
- Description: Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King and H. Robinson (Asteraceae) is a perennial weedy shrub of neotropical origin and a serious biotic threat in its invasive range. The Asian-West Africa (AWA) biotype of C. odorata present in West Africa is both morphologically and genetically different from the southern African (SA) biotype. The AWA biotype was first introduced into Nigeria in the late 1930s and rapidly spread across West Africa. Currently, 12 of the 16 countries in West Africa have been invaded, with significant negative effects on indigenous flora and fauna. However, locals in West Africa have found several uses for the weed. As chemical, physical and other conventional methods were unsustainable, costly and largely ineffective, three biological control agents, Apion brunneonigrum (Coleoptera: Brentidae), Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) and Cecidochares connexa (Diptera: Tephritidae), have been released in West Africa between the 1970s and the early 2000s. However, only C. connexa and P. pseudoinsulata established, contributing to the control of the weed, in six and four countries in West Africa respectively. Limited research funding, the absence of post-release evaluations of the established agents, and the ‘conflict of interest’ status of C. odorata (i.e. being beneficial for local use but damaging to ecosystem services and agriculture), are serious factors deterring the overall biological control effort. Here, using historical records and field surveys, we examine the invasion history, spread, impacts, and management of C. odorata in West Africa and make recommendations for the sustainable management of C. odorata in the region.
- Full Text:
With or without you: stem-galling of a tephritid fly reduces the vegetative and reproductive performance of the invasive plant Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) both alone and in combination with another agent
- Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O, Day, Michael D, Itohan Idemudia, Wilson, David D, Paterson, Iain D
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Day, Michael D , Itohan Idemudia , Wilson, David D , Paterson, Iain D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/418093 , vital:71508 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-018-09917-x"
- Description: With or without another biological control agent, the specialist folivore Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata, the stem-galling fly Cecidochares connexa reduced the performance of the invasive alien plant, Chromolaena odorata in Ghana. There was a strong significant negative relationship between gall densities of the gall fly and stem height, and the number of stems and flower heads of C. odorata. Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata had very little impact on any C. odorata parameters. However, at sites where both C. connexa and P. pseudoinsulata occurred simultaneously, the performance of C. odorata was significantly reduced when compared with control plants. Increasing densities of both agents had a strong significant negative correlative effect on C. odorata plant parameters. Cecidochares connexa was recorded in all five regions of the country sampled, while P. pseudoinsulata was recorded in four regions. Densities of both agents declined in the dry season, but galls were persistent throughout the study period. This is the first report of the impact of C. connexa on C. odorata in the West African sub-region since its introduction to Cote d’Ivoire in 2003 and it is clear that the agent has a significant impact on C. odorata in Ghana. Further surveys are required to determine the impact of both biological control agents in other parts of the sub-region where they have established.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Day, Michael D , Itohan Idemudia , Wilson, David D , Paterson, Iain D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/418093 , vital:71508 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-018-09917-x"
- Description: With or without another biological control agent, the specialist folivore Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata, the stem-galling fly Cecidochares connexa reduced the performance of the invasive alien plant, Chromolaena odorata in Ghana. There was a strong significant negative relationship between gall densities of the gall fly and stem height, and the number of stems and flower heads of C. odorata. Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata had very little impact on any C. odorata parameters. However, at sites where both C. connexa and P. pseudoinsulata occurred simultaneously, the performance of C. odorata was significantly reduced when compared with control plants. Increasing densities of both agents had a strong significant negative correlative effect on C. odorata plant parameters. Cecidochares connexa was recorded in all five regions of the country sampled, while P. pseudoinsulata was recorded in four regions. Densities of both agents declined in the dry season, but galls were persistent throughout the study period. This is the first report of the impact of C. connexa on C. odorata in the West African sub-region since its introduction to Cote d’Ivoire in 2003 and it is clear that the agent has a significant impact on C. odorata in Ghana. Further surveys are required to determine the impact of both biological control agents in other parts of the sub-region where they have established.
- Full Text:
The South America tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), spreads its wings in Eastern Africa: distribution and socioeconomic impacts
- Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O, Hill, Martin P, Zalucki, Myron P, Obala, Francis, Idriss, Gamal E, Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly G, Chidege, Maneno, Ekesi, Sunday, Mohamed, Samira Abuelgasim
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Hill, Martin P , Zalucki, Myron P , Obala, Francis , Idriss, Gamal E , Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly G , Chidege, Maneno , Ekesi, Sunday , Mohamed, Samira Abuelgasim
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423859 , vital:72099 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz220"
- Description: Following the arrival of Tuta absoluta Meyrick in the eastern African subregion in 2012, several studies have shown numerous ecological aspects of its invasion. We investigated the impact of T. absoluta on people’s livelihoods across four counties of Kenya. Here, 200 farmers in the country were interviewed in person using semistructured questionnaires. In addition to livelihood surveys, T. absoluta distribution was mapped between 2016 and 2018 to determine its current distribution across four countries (Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) in the subregion. Albeit a recent invader, T. absoluta is abundant and distributed throughout the subregion and is viewed as the worst invasive alien species of agriculturally sustainable livelihoods by tomato farmers. The arrival of T. absoluta in the subregion has resulted in livelihood losses and increased both the cost of tomato production and frequency of pesticide application. We recommend the implementation of biological control along, with other control measures in an integrated approach, against T. absoluta in the subregion, where its impact on sustainable livelihoods is serious and long-term control strategies are required to curb its detrimental effects.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Aigbedion-Atalor, Pascal O , Hill, Martin P , Zalucki, Myron P , Obala, Francis , Idriss, Gamal E , Midingoyi, Soul-Kifouly G , Chidege, Maneno , Ekesi, Sunday , Mohamed, Samira Abuelgasim
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423859 , vital:72099 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz220"
- Description: Following the arrival of Tuta absoluta Meyrick in the eastern African subregion in 2012, several studies have shown numerous ecological aspects of its invasion. We investigated the impact of T. absoluta on people’s livelihoods across four counties of Kenya. Here, 200 farmers in the country were interviewed in person using semistructured questionnaires. In addition to livelihood surveys, T. absoluta distribution was mapped between 2016 and 2018 to determine its current distribution across four countries (Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) in the subregion. Albeit a recent invader, T. absoluta is abundant and distributed throughout the subregion and is viewed as the worst invasive alien species of agriculturally sustainable livelihoods by tomato farmers. The arrival of T. absoluta in the subregion has resulted in livelihood losses and increased both the cost of tomato production and frequency of pesticide application. We recommend the implementation of biological control along, with other control measures in an integrated approach, against T. absoluta in the subregion, where its impact on sustainable livelihoods is serious and long-term control strategies are required to curb its detrimental effects.
- Full Text:
Taxonomic and trait-based responses of the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Odonata, And Trichoptera (EPOT) to sediment stress in the Tsitsa River and its tributaries, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Akamagwuna, Frank Chukwuzuoke
- Authors: Akamagwuna, Frank Chukwuzuoke
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68082 , vital:29196
- Description: Increased urbanization and industrialisation due to human population growth and associated high demand for food have led to widespread disturbances of freshwater ecosystems and associated resources. A widely recognised consequence of these disturbances is the excessive delivery of sediments into the freshwater ecosystems, which severely affects the functioning and integrity of these systems.. The major water quality impairment in the Tsitsa River and its tributaries, situated in the Mzimvubu catchment in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, is known to be excessive sediment input. In this study, the application of macroinvertebrates taxonomic-based and trait-based approaches was used to assess the responses and vulnerability of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Odonata and Trichoptera (EPOT) species to settled and suspended sediments stress in eight selected sampling sites in the Tsitsa River and its tributaries. The eight selected sites were Site 1 (Tsitsa upstream), Site 2 (Tsitsa downstream), Site 3 (Qurana tributary), Site 4 (Pot River upstream), Site 5 (Pot River downstream), Site 6 (Little Pot River), Site 7 (Millstream upstream) and Site 8 (Millstream downstream). The methods used in this study involved the analysis of water physico-chemical variables as well as sediment characteristics, derivation of five EPOT metrics, EPOT species-level taxonomic analysis, individual EPOT trait analysis and the development of a novel trait-based approach using a combination of traits. The sampling of EPOT taxa was done using the SASS5 protocols. Identification of EPOT was done to genus/species level and all data were subjected to relevant statistical analysis. The results of ecological categories derived for the physico-chemical variables generally indicated the ecological categories A and B, which was indicative of good water quality conditions. The result of sediment particle analysis revealed four distinct site groups: site group 1 (Tsitsa River upstream and Qurana tributary), site group 2 (Tsitsa River downstream and Millstream upstream), site group 3 (Pot River, both upstream and downstream, and Millstream downstream) and site group 4 (Little Pot River). The species-level taxonomic analysis of EPOT revealed that site group 1 was the most sediment-influenced sites whereas site group 4 was the least sediment-influenced. Species such as Paragopmhus sp., Aeshna sp. and Baetis sp. were considered sediment-tolerant with strong positive association with site group 1. The novel trait-based approach developed in this study proved useful in predicting the responses of EPOT species to sediment stress, and further discriminated between the study sites. The approach was used to group EPOT species into four vulnerability classes. The result showed that filter feeding EPOT species that have filamentous gills, preferring stone biotopes and feeding on detritus (FPOM) were mostly classified as highly vulnerable to sediment stress and indicated no significant association with the highly sediment-influenced site group 1. The TBA largely corresponded well to the predictions made with the relative abundance of the vulnerable class decreasing in the sediment-influenced sites compared to the tolerant and highly tolerant classes. Overall, the study revealed the importance of the complementary use of taxonomic and trait-based approaches to biomonitoring.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Akamagwuna, Frank Chukwuzuoke
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68082 , vital:29196
- Description: Increased urbanization and industrialisation due to human population growth and associated high demand for food have led to widespread disturbances of freshwater ecosystems and associated resources. A widely recognised consequence of these disturbances is the excessive delivery of sediments into the freshwater ecosystems, which severely affects the functioning and integrity of these systems.. The major water quality impairment in the Tsitsa River and its tributaries, situated in the Mzimvubu catchment in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, is known to be excessive sediment input. In this study, the application of macroinvertebrates taxonomic-based and trait-based approaches was used to assess the responses and vulnerability of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Odonata and Trichoptera (EPOT) species to settled and suspended sediments stress in eight selected sampling sites in the Tsitsa River and its tributaries. The eight selected sites were Site 1 (Tsitsa upstream), Site 2 (Tsitsa downstream), Site 3 (Qurana tributary), Site 4 (Pot River upstream), Site 5 (Pot River downstream), Site 6 (Little Pot River), Site 7 (Millstream upstream) and Site 8 (Millstream downstream). The methods used in this study involved the analysis of water physico-chemical variables as well as sediment characteristics, derivation of five EPOT metrics, EPOT species-level taxonomic analysis, individual EPOT trait analysis and the development of a novel trait-based approach using a combination of traits. The sampling of EPOT taxa was done using the SASS5 protocols. Identification of EPOT was done to genus/species level and all data were subjected to relevant statistical analysis. The results of ecological categories derived for the physico-chemical variables generally indicated the ecological categories A and B, which was indicative of good water quality conditions. The result of sediment particle analysis revealed four distinct site groups: site group 1 (Tsitsa River upstream and Qurana tributary), site group 2 (Tsitsa River downstream and Millstream upstream), site group 3 (Pot River, both upstream and downstream, and Millstream downstream) and site group 4 (Little Pot River). The species-level taxonomic analysis of EPOT revealed that site group 1 was the most sediment-influenced sites whereas site group 4 was the least sediment-influenced. Species such as Paragopmhus sp., Aeshna sp. and Baetis sp. were considered sediment-tolerant with strong positive association with site group 1. The novel trait-based approach developed in this study proved useful in predicting the responses of EPOT species to sediment stress, and further discriminated between the study sites. The approach was used to group EPOT species into four vulnerability classes. The result showed that filter feeding EPOT species that have filamentous gills, preferring stone biotopes and feeding on detritus (FPOM) were mostly classified as highly vulnerable to sediment stress and indicated no significant association with the highly sediment-influenced site group 1. The TBA largely corresponded well to the predictions made with the relative abundance of the vulnerable class decreasing in the sediment-influenced sites compared to the tolerant and highly tolerant classes. Overall, the study revealed the importance of the complementary use of taxonomic and trait-based approaches to biomonitoring.
- Full Text:
A pilot wide-field VLBI survey of the GOODS-North field
- Authors: Akoto-Danso, Alexander
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Radio astronomy , Very long baseline interferometry , Radio interometers , Imaging systems in astronomy , Hubble Space Telescope (Spacecraft) -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72296 , vital:30027
- Description: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) has significant advantages in disentangling active galactic nuclei (AGN) from star formation, particularly at intermediate to high-redshift due to its high angular resolution and insensitivity to dust. Surveys using VLBI arrays are only just becoming practical over wide areas with numerous developments and innovations (such as multi-phase centre techniques) in observation and data analysis techniques. However, fully automated pipelines for VLBI data analysis are based on old software packages and are unable to incorporate new calibration and imaging algorithms. In this work, the researcher developed a pipeline for VLBI data analysis which integrates a recent wide-field imaging algorithm, RFI excision, and a purpose-built source finding algorithm specifically developed for the 64kx64k wide-field VLBI images. The researcher used this novel pipeline to process 6% (~ 9 arcmin2 of the total 160 arcmin2) of the data from the CANDELS GOODS- North extragalactic field at 1.6 GHz. The milli-arcsec scale images have an average rms of a ~ 10 uJy/beam. Forty four (44) candidate sources were detected, most of which are at sub-mJy flux densities, having brightness temperatures and luminosities of >5x105 K and >6x1021 W Hz-1 respectively. This work demonstrates that automated post-processing pipelines for wide-field, uniform sensitivity VLBI surveys are feasible and indeed made more efficient with new software, wide-field imaging algorithms and more purpose-built source- finders. This broadens the discovery space for future wide-field surveys with upcoming arrays such as the African VLBI Network (AVN), MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
- Full Text:
- Authors: Akoto-Danso, Alexander
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Radio astronomy , Very long baseline interferometry , Radio interometers , Imaging systems in astronomy , Hubble Space Telescope (Spacecraft) -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72296 , vital:30027
- Description: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) has significant advantages in disentangling active galactic nuclei (AGN) from star formation, particularly at intermediate to high-redshift due to its high angular resolution and insensitivity to dust. Surveys using VLBI arrays are only just becoming practical over wide areas with numerous developments and innovations (such as multi-phase centre techniques) in observation and data analysis techniques. However, fully automated pipelines for VLBI data analysis are based on old software packages and are unable to incorporate new calibration and imaging algorithms. In this work, the researcher developed a pipeline for VLBI data analysis which integrates a recent wide-field imaging algorithm, RFI excision, and a purpose-built source finding algorithm specifically developed for the 64kx64k wide-field VLBI images. The researcher used this novel pipeline to process 6% (~ 9 arcmin2 of the total 160 arcmin2) of the data from the CANDELS GOODS- North extragalactic field at 1.6 GHz. The milli-arcsec scale images have an average rms of a ~ 10 uJy/beam. Forty four (44) candidate sources were detected, most of which are at sub-mJy flux densities, having brightness temperatures and luminosities of >5x105 K and >6x1021 W Hz-1 respectively. This work demonstrates that automated post-processing pipelines for wide-field, uniform sensitivity VLBI surveys are feasible and indeed made more efficient with new software, wide-field imaging algorithms and more purpose-built source- finders. This broadens the discovery space for future wide-field surveys with upcoming arrays such as the African VLBI Network (AVN), MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
- Full Text:
Where dreams become reality: professionalism in flight training in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Allison, Martin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Professional socialization , Flight training -- South Africa , Flight schools -- South Africa -- Case studies , Air pilots -- Training of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95376 , vital:31150
- Description: This study explores the construction of the identity of professional pilots through a case study of a flying school in South Africa. Here, a 15-20-month period of intensive study and training of students, fresh from school or college, leads in most cases to the attainment of a Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence. The construction of identity is a continuous process and a lifelong project and hence this study can only reflect upon the factors influencing the early stages of a pilot’s career, until the point where the licenced Pilot leaves the Air School and enters full time employment with a commercial undertaking, but it is argued that this is a crucial step in the formation of professional identity, habitus in Bourdieu’s terms. The culture of the air School reflects the military background of the founders of the school and the staff employed in senior positions. The school, which is residential, observes a strict regime of Ground School and Practical Flying Training and a high standard of performance and personal conduct is demanded, both during training and in off duty hours and excessive consumption of alcohol and smoking are discouraged, and drug use absolutely taboo. Progress with training at the school is closely monitored and a disciplined environment maintained by surveillance cameras, house monitors and security guards; in Foucauldian terms, a modern version of the Panopticon, but somewhat less than Goffman’s Total Institution. It was found that the construction of a flying identity for most of the students entering the air school commenced in childhood or early adulthood, through the influence of friends and relatives and they enter the school with the firm intention of becoming Professional pilots. Full participation of the author in the Ground School revealed how professionalization is implemented through the discipline and rigor of the training methods employed. Through mastery of a complex body of theoretical knowledge in the Ground School and the practical skill of learning to fly in a one-on-one relationship with an instructor, the students gain confidence and efficacy which contributes to their self-respect and maturity. The international reputation of the school, confers prestige upon its graduates and they benefit from membership of a profession which commands respect and a high level of income. In large measure, the thesis shows, the success of the School is a function of the founders’ ‘invention of tradition’ focusing on the wartime training school that existed on the site and the many echoes of those times in the (re)construction of its buildings and facilities, continuing in the approach of the multinational that now owns the School.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Allison, Martin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Professional socialization , Flight training -- South Africa , Flight schools -- South Africa -- Case studies , Air pilots -- Training of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95376 , vital:31150
- Description: This study explores the construction of the identity of professional pilots through a case study of a flying school in South Africa. Here, a 15-20-month period of intensive study and training of students, fresh from school or college, leads in most cases to the attainment of a Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence. The construction of identity is a continuous process and a lifelong project and hence this study can only reflect upon the factors influencing the early stages of a pilot’s career, until the point where the licenced Pilot leaves the Air School and enters full time employment with a commercial undertaking, but it is argued that this is a crucial step in the formation of professional identity, habitus in Bourdieu’s terms. The culture of the air School reflects the military background of the founders of the school and the staff employed in senior positions. The school, which is residential, observes a strict regime of Ground School and Practical Flying Training and a high standard of performance and personal conduct is demanded, both during training and in off duty hours and excessive consumption of alcohol and smoking are discouraged, and drug use absolutely taboo. Progress with training at the school is closely monitored and a disciplined environment maintained by surveillance cameras, house monitors and security guards; in Foucauldian terms, a modern version of the Panopticon, but somewhat less than Goffman’s Total Institution. It was found that the construction of a flying identity for most of the students entering the air school commenced in childhood or early adulthood, through the influence of friends and relatives and they enter the school with the firm intention of becoming Professional pilots. Full participation of the author in the Ground School revealed how professionalization is implemented through the discipline and rigor of the training methods employed. Through mastery of a complex body of theoretical knowledge in the Ground School and the practical skill of learning to fly in a one-on-one relationship with an instructor, the students gain confidence and efficacy which contributes to their self-respect and maturity. The international reputation of the school, confers prestige upon its graduates and they benefit from membership of a profession which commands respect and a high level of income. In large measure, the thesis shows, the success of the School is a function of the founders’ ‘invention of tradition’ focusing on the wartime training school that existed on the site and the many echoes of those times in the (re)construction of its buildings and facilities, continuing in the approach of the multinational that now owns the School.
- Full Text:
Integrated computational approaches and tools for allosteric drug discovery:
- Amamuddy, Olivier S, Veldman, Wade, Manyumwa, Colleen, Khairallah, Afrah, Agajanian, Steve, Oluyemi, Odeyemi, Verkhivker, Gennady M, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Amamuddy, Olivier S , Veldman, Wade , Manyumwa, Colleen , Khairallah, Afrah , Agajanian, Steve , Oluyemi, Odeyemi , Verkhivker, Gennady M , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163012 , vital:41004 , https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21030847
- Description: Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying the complexity of allosteric regulation in proteins has attracted considerable attention in drug discovery due to the benefits and versatility of allosteric modulators in providing desirable selectivity against protein targets while minimizing toxicity and other side effects. The proliferation of novel computational approaches for predicting ligand–protein interactions and binding using dynamic and network-centric perspectives has led to new insights into allosteric mechanisms and facilitated computer-based discovery of allosteric drugs. Although no absolute method of experimental and in silico allosteric drug/site discovery exists, current methods are still being improved. As such, the critical analysis and integration of established approaches into robust, reproducible, and customizable computational pipelines with experimental feedback could make allosteric drug discovery more efficient and reliable. In this article, we review computational approaches for allosteric drug discovery and discuss how these tools can be utilized to develop consensus workflows for in silico identification of allosteric sites and modulators with some applications to pathogen resistance and precision medicine. The emerging realization that allosteric modulators can exploit distinct regulatory mechanisms and can provide access to targeted modulation of protein activities could open opportunities for probing biological processes and in silico design of drug combinations with improved therapeutic indices and a broad range of activities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Amamuddy, Olivier S , Veldman, Wade , Manyumwa, Colleen , Khairallah, Afrah , Agajanian, Steve , Oluyemi, Odeyemi , Verkhivker, Gennady M , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163012 , vital:41004 , https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21030847
- Description: Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying the complexity of allosteric regulation in proteins has attracted considerable attention in drug discovery due to the benefits and versatility of allosteric modulators in providing desirable selectivity against protein targets while minimizing toxicity and other side effects. The proliferation of novel computational approaches for predicting ligand–protein interactions and binding using dynamic and network-centric perspectives has led to new insights into allosteric mechanisms and facilitated computer-based discovery of allosteric drugs. Although no absolute method of experimental and in silico allosteric drug/site discovery exists, current methods are still being improved. As such, the critical analysis and integration of established approaches into robust, reproducible, and customizable computational pipelines with experimental feedback could make allosteric drug discovery more efficient and reliable. In this article, we review computational approaches for allosteric drug discovery and discuss how these tools can be utilized to develop consensus workflows for in silico identification of allosteric sites and modulators with some applications to pathogen resistance and precision medicine. The emerging realization that allosteric modulators can exploit distinct regulatory mechanisms and can provide access to targeted modulation of protein activities could open opportunities for probing biological processes and in silico design of drug combinations with improved therapeutic indices and a broad range of activities.
- Full Text:
Establishing computational approaches towards identifying malarial allosteric modulators: a case study of plasmodium falciparum hsp70s
- Amusengeri, Arnold, Astl, Lindy, Lobb, Kevin A, Verkhivker, Gennady M, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Astl, Lindy , Lobb, Kevin A , Verkhivker, Gennady M , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163000 , vital:41003 , https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20225574
- Description: Combating malaria is almost a never-ending battle, as Plasmodium parasites develop resistance to the drugs used against them, as observed recently in artemisinin-based combination therapies. The main concern now is if the resistant parasite strains spread from Southeast Asia to Africa, the continent hosting most malaria cases. To prevent catastrophic results, we need to find non-conventional approaches. Allosteric drug targeting sites and modulators might be a new hope for malarial treatments. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are potential malarial drug targets and have complex allosteric control mechanisms. Yet, studies on designing allosteric modulators against them are limited. Here, we identified allosteric modulators (SANC190 and SANC651) against P. falciparum Hsp70-1 and Hsp70-x, affecting the conformational dynamics of the proteins, delicately balanced by the endogenous ligands. Previously, we established a pipeline to identify allosteric sites and modulators. This study also further investigated alternative approaches to speed up the process by comparing all atom molecular dynamics simulations and dynamic residue network analysis with the coarse-grained (CG) versions of the calculations. Betweenness centrality (BC) profiles for PfHsp70-1 and PfHsp70-x derived from CG simulations not only revealed similar trends but also pointed to the same functional regions and specific residues corresponding to BC profile peaks.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Astl, Lindy , Lobb, Kevin A , Verkhivker, Gennady M , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163000 , vital:41003 , https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20225574
- Description: Combating malaria is almost a never-ending battle, as Plasmodium parasites develop resistance to the drugs used against them, as observed recently in artemisinin-based combination therapies. The main concern now is if the resistant parasite strains spread from Southeast Asia to Africa, the continent hosting most malaria cases. To prevent catastrophic results, we need to find non-conventional approaches. Allosteric drug targeting sites and modulators might be a new hope for malarial treatments. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are potential malarial drug targets and have complex allosteric control mechanisms. Yet, studies on designing allosteric modulators against them are limited. Here, we identified allosteric modulators (SANC190 and SANC651) against P. falciparum Hsp70-1 and Hsp70-x, affecting the conformational dynamics of the proteins, delicately balanced by the endogenous ligands. Previously, we established a pipeline to identify allosteric sites and modulators. This study also further investigated alternative approaches to speed up the process by comparing all atom molecular dynamics simulations and dynamic residue network analysis with the coarse-grained (CG) versions of the calculations. Betweenness centrality (BC) profiles for PfHsp70-1 and PfHsp70-x derived from CG simulations not only revealed similar trends but also pointed to the same functional regions and specific residues corresponding to BC profile peaks.
- Full Text:
Understanding the Pyrimethamine drug resistance mechanism via combined molecular dynamics and dynamic residue network analysis:
- Amusengeri, Arnold, Tata, Rolland B, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Tata, Rolland B , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163022 , vital:41005 , https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25040904
- Description: In this era of precision medicine, insights into the resistance mechanism of drugs are integral for the development of potent therapeutics. Here, we sought to understand the contribution of four point mutations (N51I, C59R, S108N, and I164L) within the active site of the malaria parasite enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) towards the resistance of the antimalarial drug pyrimethamine. Homology modeling was used to obtain full-length models of wild type (WT) and mutant DHFR. Molecular docking was employed to dock pyrimethamine onto the generated structures. Subsequent all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and binding free-energy computations highlighted that pyrimethamine’s stability and affinity inversely relates to the number of mutations within its binding site and, hence, resistance severity.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Tata, Rolland B , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163022 , vital:41005 , https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25040904
- Description: In this era of precision medicine, insights into the resistance mechanism of drugs are integral for the development of potent therapeutics. Here, we sought to understand the contribution of four point mutations (N51I, C59R, S108N, and I164L) within the active site of the malaria parasite enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) towards the resistance of the antimalarial drug pyrimethamine. Homology modeling was used to obtain full-length models of wild type (WT) and mutant DHFR. Molecular docking was employed to dock pyrimethamine onto the generated structures. Subsequent all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and binding free-energy computations highlighted that pyrimethamine’s stability and affinity inversely relates to the number of mutations within its binding site and, hence, resistance severity.
- Full Text:
Discorhabdin N, a South African Natural Compound, for Hsp72 and Hsc70 Allosteric Modulation: combined study of molecular modeling and dynamic residue network analysis
- Amusengeri, Arnold, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162949 , vital:40999 , https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24010188
- Description: The human heat shock proteins (Hsps), predominantly Hsp72 and Hsp90, have been strongly implicated in various critical stages of oncogenesis and progression of human cancers. While drug development has extensively focused on Hsp90 as a potential anticancer target, much less effort has been put against Hsp72. This work investigated the therapeutic potential of Hsp72 and its constitutive isoform, Hsc70, via in silico-based screening against the South African Natural Compounds Database (SANCDB). A comparative modeling approach was used to obtain nearly full-length 3D structures of the closed conformation of Hsp72 and Hsc70 proteins. Molecular docking of SANCDB compounds identified one potential allosteric modulator, Discorhabdin N, binding to the allosteric β substrate binding domain (SBDβ) back pocket, with good binding affinities in both cases.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Amusengeri, Arnold , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162949 , vital:40999 , https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24010188
- Description: The human heat shock proteins (Hsps), predominantly Hsp72 and Hsp90, have been strongly implicated in various critical stages of oncogenesis and progression of human cancers. While drug development has extensively focused on Hsp90 as a potential anticancer target, much less effort has been put against Hsp72. This work investigated the therapeutic potential of Hsp72 and its constitutive isoform, Hsc70, via in silico-based screening against the South African Natural Compounds Database (SANCDB). A comparative modeling approach was used to obtain nearly full-length 3D structures of the closed conformation of Hsp72 and Hsc70 proteins. Molecular docking of SANCDB compounds identified one potential allosteric modulator, Discorhabdin N, binding to the allosteric β substrate binding domain (SBDβ) back pocket, with good binding affinities in both cases.
- Full Text:
Factors influencing parents’ decisions when choosing a private school
- Authors: Arendse, David
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: School choice -- South Africa -- Case studies , Competition -- South Africa , Private schools -- South Africa , Consumer behavior , VRIO framework (Valuable, Rare, Imitable and Organized) , St. Stithians College
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92628 , vital:30738
- Description: Purpose: Consumers make decisions based on multiple factors that influence their decision-making process. These decisions can be influenced by deep personal reflection to the simple impulsive purchase done to fulfil a need or want. This research study explored the relationship between the resource-based view and the factors considered by parents when selecting a school for their child/children. The Valuable, Rare, Imitable and Organized (VRIO) framework as developed by Barney, J. (1991) outlines the framework through which an organisations resources can be assessed in terms of their potential competitive advantage. The research study was interested in understanding how an educational institution can identify and then leverage its resources to create a competitive advantage. Methodology: Each family that has one or more child enrolled at St Stithians College, which is a private school in Gauteng, South Africa, was invited to participate in the study. This represented a potential population size of 1 700 families, however a sample of 334 was used. The educational institution caters to both boys and girls from Grade R to 12 (Matric). Each family was requested to participate in the study as they had already chosen to have at least one child enrolled. A self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and the questionnaire was broken into two sections. Section A focused on building a profile of the respondent while section B assessed the level of influence the factors had on a parent’s decision. Section B’s questions were structured as Likert-Scale questions requiring a response between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest influence, and 1 being the lowest. The responses to the questions were then grouped into the factors they spoke to and the average results per factor were assessed via an ANOVA table to test the null hypothesis that parents do not consider factors when choosing a school for their children. Findings: As a paper, this study set out to discover what the competitive advantage was of a private education institution in South Africa. It did so by identifying what the key factors were when parents selected the school of their choice and then analysed these findings against the resources of the given institution. The ANOVA table analysis of the responses identified that parents do consider factors and that the factor that they were most influenced by was convenience factor, represented by location of the institution and the distance to it. While there are multiple private education suppliers in South Africa, no other provider has the location that St Stithians College has, and as such, its location is its competitive advantage. Significant: This research study will expand the existing but limited competitive advantage body of knowledge in the South African education sector. South African educational institutions will be able to develop similar studies which will then assist in identifying their own competitive advantages. This can better enable education providers to entice consumers to their education services.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Arendse, David
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: School choice -- South Africa -- Case studies , Competition -- South Africa , Private schools -- South Africa , Consumer behavior , VRIO framework (Valuable, Rare, Imitable and Organized) , St. Stithians College
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92628 , vital:30738
- Description: Purpose: Consumers make decisions based on multiple factors that influence their decision-making process. These decisions can be influenced by deep personal reflection to the simple impulsive purchase done to fulfil a need or want. This research study explored the relationship between the resource-based view and the factors considered by parents when selecting a school for their child/children. The Valuable, Rare, Imitable and Organized (VRIO) framework as developed by Barney, J. (1991) outlines the framework through which an organisations resources can be assessed in terms of their potential competitive advantage. The research study was interested in understanding how an educational institution can identify and then leverage its resources to create a competitive advantage. Methodology: Each family that has one or more child enrolled at St Stithians College, which is a private school in Gauteng, South Africa, was invited to participate in the study. This represented a potential population size of 1 700 families, however a sample of 334 was used. The educational institution caters to both boys and girls from Grade R to 12 (Matric). Each family was requested to participate in the study as they had already chosen to have at least one child enrolled. A self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and the questionnaire was broken into two sections. Section A focused on building a profile of the respondent while section B assessed the level of influence the factors had on a parent’s decision. Section B’s questions were structured as Likert-Scale questions requiring a response between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest influence, and 1 being the lowest. The responses to the questions were then grouped into the factors they spoke to and the average results per factor were assessed via an ANOVA table to test the null hypothesis that parents do not consider factors when choosing a school for their children. Findings: As a paper, this study set out to discover what the competitive advantage was of a private education institution in South Africa. It did so by identifying what the key factors were when parents selected the school of their choice and then analysed these findings against the resources of the given institution. The ANOVA table analysis of the responses identified that parents do consider factors and that the factor that they were most influenced by was convenience factor, represented by location of the institution and the distance to it. While there are multiple private education suppliers in South Africa, no other provider has the location that St Stithians College has, and as such, its location is its competitive advantage. Significant: This research study will expand the existing but limited competitive advantage body of knowledge in the South African education sector. South African educational institutions will be able to develop similar studies which will then assist in identifying their own competitive advantages. This can better enable education providers to entice consumers to their education services.
- Full Text:
Checklist, endemism, English vernacular names and identification of the cicadas (Insecta, Hemiptera, Cicadidae) of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa:
- Armstrong, Adrian J, Villet, Martin H
- Authors: Armstrong, Adrian J , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140586 , vital:37901 , DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.60.35130
- Description: Public understanding of the goals of applied biology and conservation is promoted by showcasing charismatic or significant organisms using vernacular names. Conservation activities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, are prioritising taxa that have high rates of provincial endemism, such as snails, earthworms, millipedes and cicadas. To assist wider public engagement in these activities, an assessment of endemism of the cicadas of KwaZulu-Natal is presented along with a dichotomous, 37-couplet key for the identification of males, based mainly on externally visible morphology and colouration. Standardised English vernacular names coined following a simple naming convention are proposed. Forty-two percent (16 out of 38) of the cicada species known from KwaZulu-Natal are endemic to the province. Photographs of some of the species are included to facilitate their identification. Photographs can be used for identification of various species providing that the diagnostic characters are visible in the photographs. For this purpose, photographs may have to be taken of hand-held individuals. Some of the endemic species are of particular concern for conservation because they are not known to occur in statutory protected areas or are only known from relatively small protected areas. The latter may not be able to ensure the long-term survival of the species. The rate and extent of loss of habitat outside protected areas is likely to be a grave threat to species that are not protected or that are inadequately conserved in statutory protected areas. The standardised vernacular names proposed here provide a tool for communicating provincial conservation plans and concerns with stakeholders in KwaZulu-Natal and for stimulating interest in cicadas amongst land users, environmental impact assessment practitioners, biologists, naturalists and citizen scientists.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Armstrong, Adrian J , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140586 , vital:37901 , DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.60.35130
- Description: Public understanding of the goals of applied biology and conservation is promoted by showcasing charismatic or significant organisms using vernacular names. Conservation activities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, are prioritising taxa that have high rates of provincial endemism, such as snails, earthworms, millipedes and cicadas. To assist wider public engagement in these activities, an assessment of endemism of the cicadas of KwaZulu-Natal is presented along with a dichotomous, 37-couplet key for the identification of males, based mainly on externally visible morphology and colouration. Standardised English vernacular names coined following a simple naming convention are proposed. Forty-two percent (16 out of 38) of the cicada species known from KwaZulu-Natal are endemic to the province. Photographs of some of the species are included to facilitate their identification. Photographs can be used for identification of various species providing that the diagnostic characters are visible in the photographs. For this purpose, photographs may have to be taken of hand-held individuals. Some of the endemic species are of particular concern for conservation because they are not known to occur in statutory protected areas or are only known from relatively small protected areas. The latter may not be able to ensure the long-term survival of the species. The rate and extent of loss of habitat outside protected areas is likely to be a grave threat to species that are not protected or that are inadequately conserved in statutory protected areas. The standardised vernacular names proposed here provide a tool for communicating provincial conservation plans and concerns with stakeholders in KwaZulu-Natal and for stimulating interest in cicadas amongst land users, environmental impact assessment practitioners, biologists, naturalists and citizen scientists.
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Learning to learn: a critical realist exploration into the home established learning practices of a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
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An analysis of the availability of and access to credit from the formal financial sector and the performance of SMEs
- Authors: Asah, Francis Tangwo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Small business -- South Africa -- Finance , Microfinance -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115138 , vital:34081
- Description: As a developing nation, South Africa faces a high rate of poverty, high levels of inequality in terms of income and a high rate of unemployment. It is officially estimated that about 27.2% of the economically active population are unemployed. SMEs are expected to be an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, sustainable economic growth, equitable distribution of income and the overall stimulation of economic development. SMEs in South Africa constitute 99% of all businesses, contributing to employment, income inequality and poverty alleviation (Statistic South Africa, 2018). However, despite the remarkable contribution of SMEs to the economy of South Africa, the failure rate of SMEs (at 75%) is the highest of all the efficiency-driven economies sampled by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The World Bank affirm that the availability of and access to credit from the formal financial sector is the primary cause of the high failure rate of SMEs. Contemporary literature advance that the future survival and performance of SMEs in South Africa is pegged onto the amount of financial capital available to address their capital needs. Thus, this study sought to analyse the availability of and access to credit from the formal financial sector and the performance of SMEs from the supply and demand-side. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a sequential exploratory mixed method research design, located in the pragmatic research paradigm, was used in a two phased approach. The qualitative data collection and analysis in Phase 1 informed the quantitative data collection and analysis Phase 2. In Phase 1, in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 credit and 8 business managers representing the sampling unit of selected formal financial institutions. The qualitative data collected was analysed using the five-steps process of content analysis as illustrated by Terre Blanche et al. (2006:322-326). The main findings with regard to factors that impact on the willingness of the formal financial sector to provide credit to SMEs were collateral, annual business turnover, audited financial records, relationship with the bank, credit profile, nature of the business, economic climate, ethics, nationality, government policy, management team, valid Identity Document/permit, equity contribution, entrepreneurship education, product quality, and business intelligence. Assessing credit applications from SMEs, risk assessment, inspection of financial records, proper documentation and background checks were the different tasks performed by credit and business managers. In addition, the main challenges faced by the formal financial sector in assessing and approving credit in favour of SMEs included the following: lack of investment capital; lack of collateral; lack of proper financial records; poor managerial knowledge; poor business plan; lack of industrial knowledge; and poor legal and credit laws. Lastly, contrary to the notion that formal financial institutions are not interested in investing in SMEs, on average, 70% of SMEs that applied for credit received such credit. In Phase 2, a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from formal sector owner/managers of SMEs in the city of Johannesburg. Of the 702 questionnaires distributed, 300 were returned and useable. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 24). A test for normality was performed using Shapiro–Wilks test. Reliability was tested using the Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis tested the validity of factors that prevent formal financial sector from granting credit to SMEs while Binary logistic regression was used to infer on the hypotheses. Spearman’s Rho correlation analysis was used to determine whether there was any significant relationship with factors that influence access to credit and SMEs performance. The main findings revealed that access to bank finance was the only challenge that showed a significant correlation with performance. In addition, the study revealed that the South African Identity Document and collateral were the most important factors considered when applying for credit from formal financial institutions. With regard to the reasons why formal financial institutions may refuse to grant credit to SMEs, it was revealed that there was no significant positive relationship between lack of business networking and access to credit from the formal financial sector to SMEs. Conversely, the study also revealed a significant positive relationship between collateral, business information, managerial competency, business intelligence, business ethics, entrepreneurship education, legal system and macro-economy and access to credit from the formal financial sector to SMEs. Thus, it was established that there is a significant positive relationship between access to credit from the formal financial sector and the performance of SMEs.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Asah, Francis Tangwo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Small business -- South Africa -- Finance , Microfinance -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115138 , vital:34081
- Description: As a developing nation, South Africa faces a high rate of poverty, high levels of inequality in terms of income and a high rate of unemployment. It is officially estimated that about 27.2% of the economically active population are unemployed. SMEs are expected to be an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, sustainable economic growth, equitable distribution of income and the overall stimulation of economic development. SMEs in South Africa constitute 99% of all businesses, contributing to employment, income inequality and poverty alleviation (Statistic South Africa, 2018). However, despite the remarkable contribution of SMEs to the economy of South Africa, the failure rate of SMEs (at 75%) is the highest of all the efficiency-driven economies sampled by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The World Bank affirm that the availability of and access to credit from the formal financial sector is the primary cause of the high failure rate of SMEs. Contemporary literature advance that the future survival and performance of SMEs in South Africa is pegged onto the amount of financial capital available to address their capital needs. Thus, this study sought to analyse the availability of and access to credit from the formal financial sector and the performance of SMEs from the supply and demand-side. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a sequential exploratory mixed method research design, located in the pragmatic research paradigm, was used in a two phased approach. The qualitative data collection and analysis in Phase 1 informed the quantitative data collection and analysis Phase 2. In Phase 1, in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 credit and 8 business managers representing the sampling unit of selected formal financial institutions. The qualitative data collected was analysed using the five-steps process of content analysis as illustrated by Terre Blanche et al. (2006:322-326). The main findings with regard to factors that impact on the willingness of the formal financial sector to provide credit to SMEs were collateral, annual business turnover, audited financial records, relationship with the bank, credit profile, nature of the business, economic climate, ethics, nationality, government policy, management team, valid Identity Document/permit, equity contribution, entrepreneurship education, product quality, and business intelligence. Assessing credit applications from SMEs, risk assessment, inspection of financial records, proper documentation and background checks were the different tasks performed by credit and business managers. In addition, the main challenges faced by the formal financial sector in assessing and approving credit in favour of SMEs included the following: lack of investment capital; lack of collateral; lack of proper financial records; poor managerial knowledge; poor business plan; lack of industrial knowledge; and poor legal and credit laws. Lastly, contrary to the notion that formal financial institutions are not interested in investing in SMEs, on average, 70% of SMEs that applied for credit received such credit. In Phase 2, a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from formal sector owner/managers of SMEs in the city of Johannesburg. Of the 702 questionnaires distributed, 300 were returned and useable. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 24). A test for normality was performed using Shapiro–Wilks test. Reliability was tested using the Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis tested the validity of factors that prevent formal financial sector from granting credit to SMEs while Binary logistic regression was used to infer on the hypotheses. Spearman’s Rho correlation analysis was used to determine whether there was any significant relationship with factors that influence access to credit and SMEs performance. The main findings revealed that access to bank finance was the only challenge that showed a significant correlation with performance. In addition, the study revealed that the South African Identity Document and collateral were the most important factors considered when applying for credit from formal financial institutions. With regard to the reasons why formal financial institutions may refuse to grant credit to SMEs, it was revealed that there was no significant positive relationship between lack of business networking and access to credit from the formal financial sector to SMEs. Conversely, the study also revealed a significant positive relationship between collateral, business information, managerial competency, business intelligence, business ethics, entrepreneurship education, legal system and macro-economy and access to credit from the formal financial sector to SMEs. Thus, it was established that there is a significant positive relationship between access to credit from the formal financial sector and the performance of SMEs.
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Indigenous polycentric and nested customary sea-tenure (CST) institutions: a Solomon Islands case study
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178964 , vital:40100 , ISBN 9780429628283
- Description: In one volume, this book brings together a diversity of approaches, theory and frameworks that can be used to analyse the governance of renewable natural resources. Renewable natural resources are under pressure, with over-exploitation and degradation raising concern globally. Understanding governance systems and practice is essential for developing effective and fair solutions. This book introduces readers to key concepts and issues concerned with the governance of renewable natural resources and illustrates the diversity of approaches, theories and frameworks that have been used to analyse governance systems and practice. Each chapter provides an introduction to an area of literature and theory and demonstrates application through a case study. The book covers a range of geographical locations, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, and several types of natural resources. The approaches and theories introduced include common property theory, political ecology, institutional analysis, the social -ecological systems framework and social network analysis. Findings from across the chapters support an analytical focus on institutions and local context and a practical focus on diverse, flexible and inclusive governance solutions. The book serves as an essential introduction to the governance of renewable natural resources for students, researchers and practitioners.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178964 , vital:40100 , ISBN 9780429628283
- Description: In one volume, this book brings together a diversity of approaches, theory and frameworks that can be used to analyse the governance of renewable natural resources. Renewable natural resources are under pressure, with over-exploitation and degradation raising concern globally. Understanding governance systems and practice is essential for developing effective and fair solutions. This book introduces readers to key concepts and issues concerned with the governance of renewable natural resources and illustrates the diversity of approaches, theories and frameworks that have been used to analyse governance systems and practice. Each chapter provides an introduction to an area of literature and theory and demonstrates application through a case study. The book covers a range of geographical locations, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, and several types of natural resources. The approaches and theories introduced include common property theory, political ecology, institutional analysis, the social -ecological systems framework and social network analysis. Findings from across the chapters support an analytical focus on institutions and local context and a practical focus on diverse, flexible and inclusive governance solutions. The book serves as an essential introduction to the governance of renewable natural resources for students, researchers and practitioners.
- Full Text: