Climate change effects on animal and plant phylogenetic diversity in southern Africa
- Authors: Pio, Dorothea V , Engler, Robin , Linder, H Peter , Monadjem, Ara , Cotterill, Fenton P D , Taylor, Peter J , Schoeman, M Corrie , Price, Benjamin W , Villet, Martin H , Eick, Geeta , Salamin, Nicholas , Guisan, Antoine
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441874 , vital:73930 , https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12524
- Description: Much attention has been paid to the effects of climate change on species' range reductions and extinctions. There is however surprisingly little information on how climate change driven threat may impact the tree of life and result in loss of phylogenetic diversity (PD). Some plant families and mammalian orders reveal nonrandom extinction patterns, but many other plant families do not. Do these discrepancies reflect different speciation histories and does climate induced extinction result in the same discrepancies among different groups? Answers to these questions require representative taxon sampling. Here, we combine phylogenetic analyses, species distribution modeling, and climate change projections on two of the largest plant families in the Cape Floristic Region (Proteaceae and Restionaceae), as well as the second most diverse mammalian order in Southern Africa (Chiroptera), and an herbivorous insect genus (Platypleura) in the family Cicadidae to answer this question. We model current and future species distributions to assess species threat levels over the next 70 years, and then compare projected with random PD survival. Results for these animal and plant clades reveal congruence. PD losses are not significantly higher under predicted extinction than under random extinction simulations. So far the evidence suggests that focusing resources on climate threatened species alone may not result in disproportionate benefits for the preservation of evolutionary history.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Collection of urban tree products by households in poorer residential areas of three South African towns
- Authors: Kaoma, Humphrey , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/180980 , vital:43678 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2014.02.002"
- Description: The high rates of urban in-migration and poverty common in many developing country towns potentially increases the reliance of urban populations on the direct benefits provided by trees. Yet understanding of the extent of such use and the sources of these tree products is limited. Here we report on the extent of use of urban tree products by 450 households in the poorer areas of three towns along a rainfall gradient based on household questionnaires. We considered the proportion of households making use of each of several tree products and the collection or purchasing frequency which we disaggregated by source of the product, including trees in homesteads, urban spaces, edges of towns and via purchase from traders. Most households (91%) used firewood, which was most frequently collected from the urban fringe or purchased, although one-third at times also collected firewood from trees on their home plot. All households used fruits, most commonly sourced through purchase (98%), but nearly half of whom also supplemented by harvesting fruits from their home plot. Other products used included wood for building, fencing and utensils, herbal medicines, planting material and mulch. Collection of products from urban homestead trees was highest amongst households in the informal settlements and least in the more established townships. Residents of new low-cost housing areas made extensive use of urban tree products harvested in urban spaces because they had fewer homestead trees than residents of informal areas or townships. Overall, urban residents made use of a wide array of tangible products from trees which they sourced from a variety of places, including their homestead plot. This urges that planning agencies ensure that homestead plot sizes or other urban spaces that provide tree products are large enough to support the direct needs of poorer urban residents.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Colonisation and community structure of benthic diatoms on artificial substrates following a major flood event: a case of the Kowie River (Eastern Cape, South Africa)
- Authors: Dalu, Tatenda , Froneman, P William , Chari, Lenin D , Richoux, Nicole B
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143357 , vital:38239 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v40i3.10
- Description: A major flooding event that occurred during October–November 2012 caused major changes in the Kowie River hydromorphology and aquatic communities. The aim of our study was to identify the environmental variables that structure riverine benthic diatom communities at upstream and downstream locations 25 km apart on the Kowie River, South Africa. This was undertaken using tiles as artificial substrates so that we could study how the communities developed after the flood disturbance. The diatom community structure was assessed over a 28-day period following a flood event in October 2012. The Mann Whitney test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference (p 0.05) in total dissolved solids, salinity, pH and oxygen reduction potential between the two sites. In total, 58 diatom species belonging to 30 genera were identified over the 28-day study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Comparison between base metals and platinum group metals in nitrogen, M codoped TiO 2 (M= Fe, Cu, Pd, Os) for photocatalytic removal of an organic dye in water
- Authors: Kuvarega, Alex T , Mamba, Bhekie B , Krause, Rui W M
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125129 , vital:35734 , https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/962102
- Description: The photocatalytic performance of a number of nonmetal and metal codoped TiO2 for the degradation of eosin yellow under simulated solar radiation was investigated. The synthesised materials were characterised by FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, DRUV-Vis, SEM, and TEM.The N, metal codoped TiO2 containing 0.5 wt.% of the metal consisted mainly of the anatase phase, with a particle size range of 15–28 nm. The particles were largely spherical and shifted the absorption edge well into the visible region. Band gap reduction was more pronounced for the N, PGM codoped TiO2 compared to N, base metal codoped samples. Codoping led to an enhancement in the photocatalytic activity of the materials for the degradation of eosin yellow. N, Pd codoped TiO2 was the most effective photocatalyst (99.9% dye removal) while N, Cu codoped TiO2 showed the least activity (25.5% removal). The mechanism for the photocatalytic enhancement was proposed on the basis of formation of an electron deficient Schottky barrier at the semiconductor-metal interface, which acts as an electron sink and thus retards electron-hole recombination. It was shown that the ability of the photocatalyst to degrade the dye depends on the nature and type of the metal dopant in the codoped TiO2 system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Comparison of fluorophore and peroxidase labeled aptamer assays for MUC1 detection in cancer cells
- Authors: Flanagan, Shane , Limson, Janice , Fogel, Ronen
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431076 , vital:72742 , xlink:href="10.1109/BioCAS.2014.6981720"
- Description: Aptamers hold great promise for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Several biosensors incorporate aptamers as biorecognition elements for tumor markers although few evaluate their detection in a native conformation and cellular micro-environment. In this study, fluorophore and peroxidase labeled aptamer configurations were compared for the detection of MCF7 breast and SW620 colon cancer cell lines expressing the tumor marker MUC1. Fluorescence based detection showed selective binding to the cell lines relative to a nonbinding control sequence with sequence specific binding differences between MUC1 aptamers accredited to variation in the glycosylation state of expressed MUC1. The peroxidase labeled assay showed high detection sensitivity although low binding specificity was observed for the MUC1 aptamers to the cell lines. Results suggest that aptamers susceptible to non specific binding to cells may limit the applicability of enzymatic amplification to improve aptasensor sensitivity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Comparison of the biology of geographically distinct populations of the citrus pest, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick)(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
- Authors: Opoku-Debrah, John K , Hill, Martin P , Knox, Caroline M , Moore, Sean D
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405769 , vital:70204 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC160246"
- Description: Baculovirus biopesticides are an important component of integrated pest management programmes worldwide. One such example is the Cryptophlebia leucotreta granulovirus (CrleGV) which is used for the control of false codling moth, Thaumatotibia (= Cryptophlebia) leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a pest of citrus and other crops in South Africa. A potential problem associated with constant application of viral biopesticides is the differing susceptibility to the virus observed between different geographic populations of the insect host. This could be related to a number of factors, including biological performance and fitness of the target insect population. This study compared a variety of phenotypic traits between geographically distinct T. leucotreta populations collected from the Addo, Marble Hall, Citrusdal and Nelspruit regions of South Africa, and reared under laboratory conditions for several generations. Traits including pupal mass, female fecundity, egg hatch, pupal survival, adult eclosion and developmental time were used as parameters to measure biological performance and fitness. Insects from the Citrusdal region of the Western Cape exhibited significantly lower pupal mass, female fecundity, egg hatch, pupal survival, adult eclosion and the longest duration in larval and pupal development compared to the other colonies investigated. This is the first study to report differences in the performance of laboratory reared T. leucotreta from different geographic locations, and the findings may have important implications for the application of viral biopesticides for the control of this pest in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Competition between two aquatic macrophytes, Lagarosiphon major (Ridley) Moss (Hydrocharitaceae) and Myriophyllum spicatum Linnaeus (Haloragaceae) as influenced by substrate sediment and nutrients
- Authors: Martin, Grant D , Coetzee, Julie A
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76925 , vital:30641 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2013.11.001
- Description: Competition between two globally economic and ecologically important submerged aquatic macrophytes, Lagarosiphon major (Rid.) Moss ex Wager and Myriophyllum spicatum L., was studied in response to growing in different substrate nutrient and sediment treatments. Addition series experiments were conducted with mixed plantings of L. major and M. spicatum grown under two soil nutrient concentrations (high vs. low) and two sediment treatments (sand vs. loam). Competitive ability of the plants was determined using an inverse linear model of the total dry weights as the yield variable. In high nutrient sediment treatments, L. major was the stronger competitor relative to M. spicatum, with one L. major plant being competitively equivalent to 2.5 M. spicatum plants in terms of their respective ability to reduce L. major biomass. In the loam sediment treatments, L. major was an even stronger competitor relative to M. spicatum with one L. major being equivalent to 10 M. spicatum plants. Additionally, L. major had a faster relative growth rate (RGR) than M. spicatum when grown in mixed cultures, a loam sediment type and at both high and low planting densities. The results indicated that L. major is a superior competitor to M. spicatum and that both nutrient and sediment conditions significantly affect the competitive ability of both species. The results contribute to the understanding of competition between submerged invasive macrophytes, and provide insight into the establishment and spread of invasive submerged macrophytes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Conjugates of platinum nanoparticles with gallium tetra–(4-Carboxyphenyl) porphyrin and their use in photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy when in solution or embedded in electrospun fiber
- Authors: Managa, Muthumuni , Antunes, Edith M , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193791 , vital:45396 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poly.2014.03.050"
- Description: The conjugation of Pt nanoparticles with ClGa(III) 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (ClGaTCPP) showed greater antimicrobial activity against a gram positive and drug resistant bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, than when the porphyrin was used alone. ClGaTCPP and its conjugate with platinum nanoparticle was successfully electrospun into a polystyrene polymer where the diameter ranged from 10 to 22 μm. The conjugates within the fiber still showed activity towards S. aureus.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Conjugation of mono-substituted phthalocyanine derivatives to CdSe@ ZnS quantum dots and their applications as fluorescent-based sensors
- Authors: Adegoke, Oluwasesan , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/189842 , vital:44936 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2013.11.016"
- Description: Unsymmetrically substituted derivatives of aluminium amino phthalocyanines were synthesized for the first time, fully characterized and conjugated to CdSe@ZnS quantum dots (QDs). The conjugates were employed as fluorescence-based sensors for anion sensing. Among the anions that enhanced the fluorescence of the probe, fluoride ion was chosen as the test ion to test the efficacy of the probe. Förster resonance energy transfer from the QDs to the phthalocyanine was observed as an indication for the fluorescence quenching of the QDs upon binding to the phthalocyanine. The fluorescence of the linked QDs was progressively enhanced, and linearly proportional to increasing concentrations of fluoride ion. The type of substituent attached to the phthalocyanine ring influenced the efficiency of fluorescence enhancement. The proposed nanoprobe has been employed to detect fluoride ion in cell culture medium and tap water.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Conscientious objection to performing same-sex marriage in South Africa
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/129186 , vital:36228 , https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebu001
- Description: This article considers whether public servants should be exempt from South Africa’s equality provisions and anti-discrimination legislation in solemnizing same-sex marriages. In order to deal with this question, the article analyses the treatment of freedom of conscience and conscientious objection by comparing the solemnization of same-sex marriage by public servants, with another public service: that of terminations of pregnancy. While each situation will inevitably turn on the particular circumstances of the case, I argue that there should be a content-neutral guiding principle (as well as consistency) in dealing with these situations. The issue in each situation is narrowed to whether a civil servant’s personal convictions can override the state’s secular obligations in providing a service, and whether there is room for a qualified right to conscientious objection. By analysing the matter in this way, it is clear that the unqualified statutory exemption clause in South Africa’s Civil Union Act is constitutionally objectionable.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
Conspecific alarm cue sensitivity by the estuarine calanoid copepod, Paracartia longipatella
- Authors: Wasserman, Ryan J , Kramer, Rachel , Vink, Tim J F , Froneman, P William
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68062 , vital:29194 , https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12135
- Description: Publisher version , Sensitivity to chemical cues associated with predation threat has been well observed in many freshwater zooplankters, yet few studies have highlighted such sensitivity in eury- and stenohaline metazoans. We aimed to assess sensitivity to conspecific chemical alarm cues in the estuarine copepod, Paracartia longipatella. Alarm cues associated with predation have been shown to have population level effects on certain zooplanktonic species. As such, we assessed the occurrence of such effects on population dynamics of P.longipatella over a 12 day period. Using experimental in situ mesocosms, we compared P.longipatella adult, copepodite and nauplii numbers between three treatments; one inoculated with conspecific alarm cues, one containing direct predation pressure (zooplanktivorous fish), and a control treatment containing no predation threat. Trends in population abundances were similar between the direct predation and alarm cue treatments for the six days of the experiment, decreasing in abundance. During the latter half of the study, however, P.longipatella abundances in the alarm cue treatment increased, while those in the presence of direct predation continued to decrease. In the treatment absent of any predation threat, P.longipatella abundances increased consistently over time for the duration of the study. We suggest that P.longipatella are indeed sensitive to conspecific alarm cues associated with predation threat. Furthermore, we propose that prolonged exposure to conspecific alarm cues in the absence of any real threat results in a reduction in sensitive to these cues.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
Contextualising Curriculum Design and Recontextualising Its Implementation: The Case of Climate Change Education for Southern African Transfrontier Conservation Area Practitioners
- Authors: Mukute, Mutizwa , Pesanayi, Tichaona V
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/387173 , vital:68212 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/121965"
- Description: This paper discusses how the climate change education needs of park managers, ecologists, and community development officers in Southern African Development Community (SADC) Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) were established through contextual profiling. It subsequently analyses how a curriculum that was designed in response to a contextual profiling process was recontextualised during implementation by the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme (REEP), with support from German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ). The paper’s purpose is to trace the trajectory of contextualised curriculum development and implementation with a view to identifying how the twin concepts of contextual profiling and recontextualisation were utilised and lessons were learnt. The paper has potential value for educators/trainers interested in increasing the relevance of protected area workplace learning and its congruence to learners’ realities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Contrasting architecture of key African and Australian savanna tree taxa drives intercontinental structural divergence
- Authors: Moncrieff, Glenn R , Lehmann, Caroline E , Schnitzler, Jan , Gambiza, James , Hiernaux, Pierre , Ryan, Casey M , Shackleton, Charlie M , Williams, Richard J , Higgins, Steven I
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/180919 , vital:43670 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12205"
- Description: We examined differences in the architecture of African and Australian savanna trees. We sought to attribute variation in tree architecture to current environments, wood density and phylogeny, and thereby elucidate the relative importance of biogeographic idiosyncrasies versus current factors in underpinning architectural differences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Cosmological efficacy and the politics of Sacred Place: Soli Rainmaking in contemporary Zambia
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147482 , vital:38642 , https://doi.org/10.1162/AFAR_a_00163
- Description: In this article I analyze cosmological efficacy in light of the politicization and apparent secularization of contemporary annual ceremonies in Zambia, south-central Africa, which are framed by scholars as neotraditional (Lentz 2001), folklorized (van Binsbergen 1994), or retraditionalized (Gould 2005:3, 6) events. My term “festivalization” registers the formalization of Zambian performances such as rituals, harvest festivals, inaugurations, and initiations as annual festival events, but does not imply a pejorative attitude towards cultural change and so-called inauthenticity, as the words “folklorization” or “retraditionalization” seem to do.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Critical analysis of environmental water quality in South Africa Historic and current trends
- Authors: Griffin, Neil J , Palmer, Carolyn G , Scherman, Patricia A
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , report
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437812 , vital:73414 , ISBN 978-1-4312-0536-3 , https://wrcwebsite.azurewebsites.net/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/2184-1-14.pdf
- Description: South Africa is widely recognised as having an admirable water law, and as being a leader in granting a right to water, in terms of quality and quantity, to the environment. However, the water quality of South Afri-can water resources is deteriorating (eg CSIR 2010, DWA 2011a), alt-hough good water quality management structures, strategies, ap-proaches, programmes, instruments, and tools have been developed and implemented nationally. The research reported on here provides a review of changes in water quality management structures, pro-grammes and approaches over the past two decades, and highlights areas where these need updating, completion or revision. As a com-parative illustration of changes in water quality with time, changes in 11 water quality parameters in two river systems (the Crocodile River in Mpumalanga, which is moderately impacted, and the Olifants River, in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, which is severely impacted) are presented.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Critical realist versus mainstream interdisciplinarity
- Authors: Price, Leigh
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391143 , vital:68624 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1179/1476743013Z.00000000019"
- Description: In this paper I argue for the superiority of a critical realist understanding of interdisciplinarity over a mainstream understanding of it. I begin by exploring the reasons for the failure of mainstream researchers to achieve interdisciplinarity. My main argument is that mainstream interdisciplinary researchers tend to hypostatize facts, fetishize constant conjunctions of events and apply to open systems an epistemology designed for closed systems. I also explain how mainstream interdisciplinarity supports oppression and gross inequality. I argue that mainstream interdisciplinarity is not true interdisciplinarity and refer to it accordingly as ‘condisciplinarity’. By way of example, I examine the condisciplinarity of the World Health Organization’s ecological model applied to the issue of men’s violence against women. Specifically, I argue that critical realist interdisciplinarity is preferable because it acknowledges inter alia the empirical, actual and real layers of reality, which allows it to develop depth-explanations of phenomena. In practice, this means that critical realist interdisciplinarity can potentially provide explanations that, compared to condisciplinarity, are broader (include more of the human and non-human context) and deeper (include for example individuals’ conscious and unconscious psychological motivations). In the World Health Organization’s example of the causes of men’s violence against women, condisciplinarity resulted in the absence of historical, global and unconscious aspects of the problem. It is also restricted the analysis to reductive, constant-conjunction based theories of the causes of the problem, specifically ‘risk factors’, thereby providing a relatively shallow explanation for the problem.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Critical spaces: processes of othering in British Institutions of Higher Education
- Authors: Phiri, Aretha
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60741 , vital:27824 , http://www.jfsonline.org/issue7-8/articles/phiri/
- Description: Global recession and the economic crisis have affected contemporary British society in predictable ways. But this age of austerity has also unveiled the continued sinister machinations of whiteness. While not necessarily homogeneous, austerity rhetoric, as it is currently conventionally deployed, works to perpetuate white masculinist privilege and further entrenches the normative value of whiteness, while simultaneously masking and marginalizing those ethnic minority populations traditionally othered from mainstream sociopolitical discourse. More specifically, recent austerity measures adversely affect the situation of women and the future of feminist theory and practice in British higher education. This paper investigates and problematizes the deployment of austerity discourse within higher learning for its perpetuation of the normativity and hegemony of a masculinist whiteness, which further disadvantages (white) women and disrupts the practice of feminism(s) in academia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Cytotoxicity, phytochemical analysis and antioxidant activity of crude extracts from Rhizomes of Elephantorrhiza Elephantina and Pentanisia Prunelloides
- Authors: Mpofu, Smart J , Msagati, Titus A M , Krause, Rui W M
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125097 , vital:35728 , https://doi.org/10.4314/ajtcam.v11i1.6
- Description: Background: Elephantorrhiza elephantina (Ee) and Pentanisia prunelloides (Pp) are two medicinal plants which are widely used to remedy various ailments including diarrhoea, dysentery, inflammation, fever, rheumatism, heartburn, tuberculosis, haemorrhoids, skin diseases, perforated peptic ulcers and sore joints in southern Africa (South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Zimbabwe). The following study was conducted to explore the in vitro cytotoxicity, antioxidant properties and phytochemical profile of the two medicinal plants. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxicity of the aqueous and methanol extracts and fractions of both species was studied using the brine shrimp lethality tests (BST) for the first time. Results: The results demonstrated that the lethality (LC50) for crude extracts for both plants ranged between 1.8 and 5.8 ppm and was relatively greater than that for the methanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions of the extracts which ranged between 2.1 ppm and 27 ppm. This suggested that crude extracts were more potent than their respective fractions, further explaining that the different fractions of phytochemicals in these plant species work jointly (in synergy) to exert their therapeutic efficacy. Both aqueous and methanol extracts of the two medicinal plants demonstrated a high degree of antioxidant capacity against the DPPH radical with the Duh and Yen inhibition percentage ranging between 4.5% and 72%. Phytochemical studies of the rhizome extracts showed that the major compounds present include flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanidins, anthraquinones, triterpenoids (oleanolic acid), the steroidal saponin Diosgenin, the sugars, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, Arabinose and hexoses. Conclusion: This is the first report of the detection and isolation of diosgenin and oleanolic acid from the rhizome extracts of Ee and Pp. All structures were determined using spectroscopic/spectrometric techniques (1H NMR and 13C and LC-ESI-MS) and by comparison with literature data.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Dangerous people and places : a community newspaper's constructions of crime
- Authors: Raymond, Leigh Alice
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Grocott's Mail (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Community newspapers -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Crime and the press -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Newspapers -- Objectivity , Mass media policy -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Social responsibility of business -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Police and the press -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3527 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013091
- Description: This thesis argues that there is a clear imbalance in the representation of crime in the newspaper, Grocott’s Mail, in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The thesis concludes that the system of marginalisation and segregation which was established during the apartheid era is the foundation for the continued segregation and marginalisation of certain groups of people in Grahamstown as depicted in crime journalism. Previous research shows that not only people, but spaces are marginalised through media representations of crime. As people are represented as dangerous, so too the spaces they occupy become dangerous spaces. Importantly, the research shows that discourses of marginalisation are present in newspaper reports reproducing the discourses prominent in society, and in turn, the newspaper itself perpetuates these marginalising discourses. This extends into the coverage that different crimes receive in newspapers. For instance, the reports show that a middle-class audience will be more concerned with property crime in middle-class neighbourhoods, than other crimes in lower-class neighbourhoods. I argue that not only the type of crime, but the severity, the effect, and the necessity for justice represented by the newspaper, are all largely determined by the region of the crime. Further, I show that the criminal is not only demonised and represented as individually deviant in the reports in the newspaper, but that these representations are made by this newspaper because they are deeply imbedded as a discourse in society. This is partly because this newspaper has taken on a monitorial role, requiring neutral reporting from journalists, and a dedication to surveying the processes of state institutions, like the police and courts. As a result, the ways in which crime is reported on in the newspaper is fairly well fixed, making it difficult for journalists to conceive of different ways of reporting crime. The representations of the criminal justice system that the monitorial media, this newspaper included present, are a careful balance between the interest of the public, and the need to preserve relationships with sources. The monitorial media in general, and this newspaper in particular, represent the criminal justice system. The relationship between the police and the newspaper, and the courts and the media, therefore strongly influences the way in which crime news is reported. In particular, crime news is represented from the perspective of the criminal justice system. This research was carried out using Critical Discourse Analysis, qualitative interviews, and focus group interviews.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Degradation of Paracetamol and other constituents in Perfalgan®: subtitle if needed. If no subtitle follow instructions in manual
- Authors: Curran,Catherine
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Masters theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/3165 , vital:43181
- Description: Abstract text. 5.1 Background Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is useful for the treatment of mild to moderate pain as well as being opiate–sparing. In recent years the problem of poor solubility of paracetamol in water has been overcome and an intravenous formulation of paracetamol developed. In South Africa this is marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb as Perfalgan®. Each 500 mg or 1g ampoule of Perfalgan® is recommended for single use only and is to be discarded once opened (Medicines.org, n.d.). This is most likely due to concerns about degradation of paracetamol or other ingredients in the solution once exposed to air and sterility issues. However in South Africa where this drug is expensive, some centers use one ampoule for multiple cases over the course of 12-24 hours. No obvious clinical adverse effects have been reported. 5.2 Objective of study The aim of this study was to examine the practice of using a single vial of Perfalgan® in divided doses over the course of a day for different patients by way of assessing the stability of Perfalgan® on exposure to air. The study has three components, namely: 1. In vitro assessment of paracetamol levels on exposure to air and stressors over time. 2. In vitro assessment of levels of the excipients, namely mannitol and cysteine on exposure to air and stressors over time. 3. Assessment of the lipid permeability of paracetamol in Perfalgan® on exposure to air and stressors over time. C Curran 2014 Degradation of paracetamol and other constituents in Perfalgan® 8 5.3 Methodology High performance liquid chromatography (HPCL-UV) was used to determine the concentration of paracetamol and the presence of degradation products in samples taken at set time periods following exposure of Perfalgan® to air and stressors. Initial work was done using pure paracetamol to determine optimal measurement conditions prior to analysing Perfalgan®. The concentrations of the additives and their degradation products were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H NMR). Appreciable changes in these could indicate a safety hazard or decreased bioavailability. Finally ultraviolet spectroscopy was performed to assess samples at a wider spectrum of wavelengths, instead of the single wavelength used in HPLC. This was used to assess for degradation products which absorb at different wavelengths and therefore may be missed if HPLC was used alone. Ultraviolet spectroscopy was also used to test bioavailability of the drug via the octanol:water partition coefficient under stressed and unstressed conditions. 5.4 Results The paracetamol in Perfalgan® did not degrade on exposure to air over 24 hours. Neither did it degrade on exposure to acid, alkali, oxidative or heat stress. The HPLC retention time was constantly between 3.17-3.29 minutes. 1 H NMR revealed no change in the formulation of Perfalgan® except for the conversion of the oxygen scavenger cysteine to cystine. The octanol:water partition coefficient likewise stayed constant and was in agreement with the value of 0.46-0.49 quoted in the literature (International Programme on Chemical Safety, 2008; McNeil Consumer Healthcare, 2010). 5.5 Conclusion The paracetamol in Perfalgan® did not degrade on exposure to air and other stressors over 24 hours. The formulation as Perfalgan® was likewise found to be stable. The drug retained its lipid permeability over this period. , Thesis (MMED) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2014
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- Date Issued: 2014