South Africa’s oldest ophiuroid fossils provide rare insights into the origination of the Malvinoxhosan Realm
- Authors: Gess, Robert W , Reddy, Caitlin
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480595 , vital:78458 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n11-a11
- Description: Recent description of the oldest recorded brittle stars (ophiuroids) from the southern hemisphere revealed two distinct taxa of early Pragian age (approximately 410 million years old). Whereas one of the brittle stars belonged to a species previously described from younger strata, the others represent an unusually spiny taxon formerly unknown to science. Recovered from the 'upper member' of the Baviaanskloof Formation (the uppermost unit of the Table Mountain Group), they offer insights into the earliest recorded phase of the endemic Malvinoxhosan Realm, deposited in polar regions of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and better known from the overlying Bokkeveld Group.
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What does practising the Adaptive Systemic Approach offer engaged sustainability science?
- Authors: Palmer, Carolyn G , Tanner, Jane L
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480784 , vital:78476 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v120-n9-a8
- Description: Engaged sustainability science is a relational response that mobilises knowledge into constructive action. However, theoretical and conceptual development has outstripped effective practice. Some of the barriers to practice include: (1) integrative theories, concepts and vocabulary that are not familiar to most disciplinary scholars; (2) literature that supports these perspectives is dispersed and difficult to organise into practical steps; (3) the skill-set for effective engagement is rare, and includes facilitating co-learning that is attentive to power and equity. By providing a clear set of activities, the Adaptive Systemic Approach enables novice and experienced research practitioners to start, and to follow a pathway.
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Science and language, knowledge and power
- Authors: Wilmot, Kirstin , Iqani, Mehita , Madondo, Nkosinathi
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480573 , vital:78456 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-sajsci-v119-n11-a9
- Description: All scientific knowledge is encoded in socially constructed forms of communication with language being the primary mode. When language is understood as a socio-cultural practice and a resource for meaning-making, it has significant implications for how we understand knowledge-building in disciplines and the inherent power relationships that are created in the way we use language to construct different kinds of knowledge and position knowledge in the field. It also has implications for how we share and validate knowledge with and to others. If science is to be used for social justice, understanding science communication necessitates considerations of language, knowledge and power.
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Computational analysis of missense mutations from the human Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) protein by Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Dynamic Residue Network Analysis:
- Authors: Kimuda, Phillip M , Brown, David K , Sheik Amamuddy, Olivier , Ross, Caroline J , Matovu, Enock , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163238 , vital:41021 , https://doi.org/10.21955/aasopenres.1115054.1
- Description: Missense mutations are changes in the DNA that result in a change in the amino acid sequence. Depending on their location within the protein they can have a negative impact on how the protein functions. This is especially important for proteins involved in the body’s response to infection and diseases. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is one such protein that functions to recruit white blood cells to sites of inflammation.
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Novel potential antimalarials through drug repurposing and multitargeting: a Computational Approach
- Authors: Diallo, Bakary N , Lobb, Kevin A , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162676 , vital:40972 , https://doi.org/10.21955/aasopenres.1114955.1
- Description: This study aims to identify potential antimalarials from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs.
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South African research in the Southern Ocean: New opportunities but serious challenges
- Authors: Treasure, Anne M , Moloney, Coleen , Bester, Marthán N , Findlay, Ken P , Best, Peter B , Cowan, Don A , De Bruyn, P J Nico , Dorrington, Rosemary A , Fagereng, Ake , Froneman, P William , Grantham, Geoff H , Hunt, Brian P V , Meiklejohn, Ian , Pakhomov, Evgeny A , Roychoudhury, Alakendra N , Ryan, Peter G , Smith, Valdon R , Chown, Steven L , Ansorge, Isabelle J
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480584 , vital:78457 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC133146
- Description: South Africa has a long track record in Southern Ocean and Antarctic research and has recently invested considerable funds in acquiring new infrastructure for ongoing support of this research. This infrastructure includes a new base at Marion Island and a purpose-built ice capable research vessel, which greatly expand research opportunities. Despite this investment, South Africa's standing as a participant in this critical field is threatened by confusion, lack of funding, lack of consultation and lack of transparency. The research endeavour is presently bedevilled by political manoeuvring among groups with divergent interests that too often have little to do with science, while past and present contributors of research are excluded from discussions that aim to formulate research strategy. This state of affairs is detrimental to the country's aims of developing a leadership role in climate change and Antarctic research and squanders both financial and human capital.
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The applicability of existing topside ionospheric models to the South African region
- Authors: Sibanda, Patrick , McKinnell, Lee-Anne
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480640 , vital:78462 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC96959
- Description: The modelling of the electron density profile (Ne) for the topside ionosphere is challenging due to the limited availability of measured data. Over the past few years, a range of approaches to topside ionospheric modelling and representation of the Ne variation over the topside altitude range have been developed. This paper presents various topside ionospheric modelling efforts and describes their applicability for the South African region.
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