Insights into the Dynamics and Binding of Two Polyprotein Substrate Cleavage Points in the Context of the SARS-CoV-2 Main and Papain-like Proteases
- Sanusi, Zainab K, Lobb, Kevin A
- Authors: Sanusi, Zainab K , Lobb, Kevin A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452773 , vital:75169 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27238251"
- Description: It is well known that vital enzymes in the replication process of the coronavirus are the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro and SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, both of which are important targets in the search for anti-coronavirus agents. These two enzymes are responsible for cleavage at various polyprotein sites in the SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle. Herein, the dynamics of the polyprotein cleavage sequences for the boundary between non-structural proteins Nsp1 and Nsp2 (CS1) and between Nsp2 and Nsp3 (CS2) in complex with both the papain-like protein PLpro and the main protease 3CLpro were explored using computational methods. The post dynamics analysis reveals that CS1 and CS2 both have greater stability when complexed with PLpro. Of these two, greater stability is observed for the CS1–PLpro complex, while destabilization resulting in loss of CS2 from the PLpro active site is observed for CS2-PLpro, suggesting the rate of exchange by the papain-like protease is faster for CS2 compared to CS1. On the other hand, the 3CLpro main protease also reveals stability for CS1 suggesting that the main protease could also play a potential role in the cleavage at point CS1. However, destabilization occurs early in the simulation for the complex CLpro–CS2 suggesting a poor interaction and non-plausible protease cleavage of the polyprotein at CS2 by the main protease. These findings could be used as a guide in the development and design of potent COVID-19 antiviral inhibitors that mimic the CS1 cleavage site.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Sanusi, Zainab K , Lobb, Kevin A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452773 , vital:75169 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27238251"
- Description: It is well known that vital enzymes in the replication process of the coronavirus are the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro and SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro, both of which are important targets in the search for anti-coronavirus agents. These two enzymes are responsible for cleavage at various polyprotein sites in the SARS-CoV-2 lifecycle. Herein, the dynamics of the polyprotein cleavage sequences for the boundary between non-structural proteins Nsp1 and Nsp2 (CS1) and between Nsp2 and Nsp3 (CS2) in complex with both the papain-like protein PLpro and the main protease 3CLpro were explored using computational methods. The post dynamics analysis reveals that CS1 and CS2 both have greater stability when complexed with PLpro. Of these two, greater stability is observed for the CS1–PLpro complex, while destabilization resulting in loss of CS2 from the PLpro active site is observed for CS2-PLpro, suggesting the rate of exchange by the papain-like protease is faster for CS2 compared to CS1. On the other hand, the 3CLpro main protease also reveals stability for CS1 suggesting that the main protease could also play a potential role in the cleavage at point CS1. However, destabilization occurs early in the simulation for the complex CLpro–CS2 suggesting a poor interaction and non-plausible protease cleavage of the polyprotein at CS2 by the main protease. These findings could be used as a guide in the development and design of potent COVID-19 antiviral inhibitors that mimic the CS1 cleavage site.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Synthesis and conformational studies of 5-bromo-1-[(N-substituted-carbamoyl) methyl]-7-azabenzimidazoles
- Oluwafemi, Kola A, Klein, Rosalyn, Lobb, Kevin A, Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu, Isaacs, Michelle, Hoppe, Heinrich C, Kaye, Perry T
- Authors: Oluwafemi, Kola A , Klein, Rosalyn , Lobb, Kevin A , Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich C , Kaye, Perry T
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452800 , vital:75171 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2022.133811"
- Description: The Cs2CO3-catalysed condensation of 5-bromo-7-azabenzimidazole with a series of bromomethyl ketones has afforded a small library of ten, novel 5-bromo-1-[(N-substututed-carbamoyl)methyl]-7-azabenzimidazoles. Rotamerism in the products, as evidenced by the splitting of 1H- and 13C-NMR signals, is attributed to hindered internal rotation about the amide N-C(=O) bond, and has been explored using dynamic NMR (DNMR) analysis and computational methods at the GIAO B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) level of theory. Coalescence temperatures have been obtained for representative examples and rotational barriers determined experimentally and theoretically. A detailed theoretical analysis has been undertaken to explore conformations which may contribute to the relative populations of the s-cis and s-trans rotamers. The products have also been screened for cytotoxicity and activity against two parasitic protozoan strains (Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma brucei).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Oluwafemi, Kola A , Klein, Rosalyn , Lobb, Kevin A , Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu , Isaacs, Michelle , Hoppe, Heinrich C , Kaye, Perry T
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452800 , vital:75171 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2022.133811"
- Description: The Cs2CO3-catalysed condensation of 5-bromo-7-azabenzimidazole with a series of bromomethyl ketones has afforded a small library of ten, novel 5-bromo-1-[(N-substututed-carbamoyl)methyl]-7-azabenzimidazoles. Rotamerism in the products, as evidenced by the splitting of 1H- and 13C-NMR signals, is attributed to hindered internal rotation about the amide N-C(=O) bond, and has been explored using dynamic NMR (DNMR) analysis and computational methods at the GIAO B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) level of theory. Coalescence temperatures have been obtained for representative examples and rotational barriers determined experimentally and theoretically. A detailed theoretical analysis has been undertaken to explore conformations which may contribute to the relative populations of the s-cis and s-trans rotamers. The products have also been screened for cytotoxicity and activity against two parasitic protozoan strains (Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma brucei).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Synthesis, stereochemistry and in vitro STD NMR and in silico HIV-1 PR enzyme-binding potential of MBH-derived inhibitors
- Tukulula, Matshawandile, Olasupo, Idris A, Mugumbate, Grace C, Lobb, Kevin A, Klein, Rosalyn, Sayed, Yasien, Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu, Kaye, Perry T
- Authors: Tukulula, Matshawandile , Olasupo, Idris A , Mugumbate, Grace C , Lobb, Kevin A , Klein, Rosalyn , Sayed, Yasien , Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu , Kaye, Perry T
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452813 , vital:75172 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2022.133716"
- Description: Aza-Michael reactions of a pyridine-3-carbaldehyde-derived Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) adduct with various amines have afforded a series of 10 diastereomeric products, stereochemical analysis of which has been achieved using a combination of NMR (1D, 2D and NOESY) and computer modelling methods. Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) 1H NMR spectroscopy and in silico molecular docking studies have been used to explore the HIV-1 protease sub-type C enzyme binding potential of these compounds in five different HIV-1 PR enzyme receptors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Tukulula, Matshawandile , Olasupo, Idris A , Mugumbate, Grace C , Lobb, Kevin A , Klein, Rosalyn , Sayed, Yasien , Tshiwawa, Tendamudzimu , Kaye, Perry T
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452813 , vital:75172 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2022.133716"
- Description: Aza-Michael reactions of a pyridine-3-carbaldehyde-derived Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) adduct with various amines have afforded a series of 10 diastereomeric products, stereochemical analysis of which has been achieved using a combination of NMR (1D, 2D and NOESY) and computer modelling methods. Saturation Transfer Difference (STD) 1H NMR spectroscopy and in silico molecular docking studies have been used to explore the HIV-1 protease sub-type C enzyme binding potential of these compounds in five different HIV-1 PR enzyme receptors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Working in poverty: Informal employment of household gardeners in Eastern Cape towns, South Africa
- King, Andrew, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: King, Andrew , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/401398 , vital:69731 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1940867"
- Description: In South Africa there has been relatively little consideration of the informal employment offered to domestic household workers and gardeners. Here we report on the number and profile of gardeners employed by private households and the wage and satisfaction rates in 12 towns of the Eastern Cape. Over 98% of the informal gardeners were male, middle-aged and with limited formal schooling. Approximately 58% of middle and upper income households employed a gardener, at a mean daily rate of R112.20 in 2019. This equated to 13 170 gardeners earning a total wage bill of R139 million p.a. across the 12 towns, which scales up to 0.7–1 million informal gardeners nationally earning approximately R10–14 billion per year. However, daily remuneration was insufficient to cover basic needs, and slightly more than half of the gardeners would prefer a different job, indicating the survivalist nature of the sector.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: King, Andrew , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/401398 , vital:69731 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2021.1940867"
- Description: In South Africa there has been relatively little consideration of the informal employment offered to domestic household workers and gardeners. Here we report on the number and profile of gardeners employed by private households and the wage and satisfaction rates in 12 towns of the Eastern Cape. Over 98% of the informal gardeners were male, middle-aged and with limited formal schooling. Approximately 58% of middle and upper income households employed a gardener, at a mean daily rate of R112.20 in 2019. This equated to 13 170 gardeners earning a total wage bill of R139 million p.a. across the 12 towns, which scales up to 0.7–1 million informal gardeners nationally earning approximately R10–14 billion per year. However, daily remuneration was insufficient to cover basic needs, and slightly more than half of the gardeners would prefer a different job, indicating the survivalist nature of the sector.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Improving licence plate detection using generative adversarial networks
- Authors: Boby, Alden , Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/464145 , vital:76480 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-04881-4_47"
- Description: The information on a licence plate is used for traffic law enforcement, access control, surveillance and parking lot management. Existing li-cence plate recognition systems work with clear images taken under controlled conditions. In real-world licence plate recognition scenarios, images are not as straightforward as the ‘toy’ datasets used to bench-mark existing systems. Real-world data is often noisy as it may contain occlusion and poor lighting, obscuring the information on a licence plate. Cleaning input data before using it for licence plate recognition is a complex problem, and existing literature addressing the issue is still limited. This paper uses two deep learning techniques to improve li-cence plate visibility towards more accurate licence plate recognition. A one-stage object detector popularly known as YOLO is implemented for locating licence plates under challenging situations. Super-resolution generative adversarial networks are considered for image upscaling and reconstruction to improve the clarity of low-quality input. The main focus involves training these systems on datasets that include difficult to detect licence plates, enabling better performance in unfavourable conditions and environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Boby, Alden , Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/464145 , vital:76480 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-04881-4_47"
- Description: The information on a licence plate is used for traffic law enforcement, access control, surveillance and parking lot management. Existing li-cence plate recognition systems work with clear images taken under controlled conditions. In real-world licence plate recognition scenarios, images are not as straightforward as the ‘toy’ datasets used to bench-mark existing systems. Real-world data is often noisy as it may contain occlusion and poor lighting, obscuring the information on a licence plate. Cleaning input data before using it for licence plate recognition is a complex problem, and existing literature addressing the issue is still limited. This paper uses two deep learning techniques to improve li-cence plate visibility towards more accurate licence plate recognition. A one-stage object detector popularly known as YOLO is implemented for locating licence plates under challenging situations. Super-resolution generative adversarial networks are considered for image upscaling and reconstruction to improve the clarity of low-quality input. The main focus involves training these systems on datasets that include difficult to detect licence plates, enabling better performance in unfavourable conditions and environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Deep Learning Approach to Image Deblurring and Image Super-Resolution using DeblurGAN and SRGAN
- Kuhlane, Luxolo L, Brown, Dane L, Connan, James, Boby, Alden, Marais, Marc
- Authors: Kuhlane, Luxolo L , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden , Marais, Marc
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465157 , vital:76578 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luxolo-Kuhlane/publication/363257796_Deep_Learning_Approach_to_Image_Deblurring_and_Image_Super-Resolution_using_DeblurGAN_and_SRGAN/links/6313b5a01ddd44702131b3df/Deep-Learning-Approach-to-Image-Deblurring-and-Image-Super-Resolution-using-DeblurGAN-and-SRGAN.pdf"
- Description: Deblurring is the task of restoring a blurred image to a sharp one, retrieving the information lost due to the blur of an image. Image deblurring and super-resolution, as representative image restoration problems, have been studied for a decade. Due to their wide range of applications, numerous techniques have been proposed to tackle these problems, inspiring innovations for better performance. Deep learning has become a robust framework for many image processing tasks, including restoration. In particular, generative adversarial networks (GANs), proposed by [1], have demonstrated remarkable performances in generating plausible images. However, training GANs for image restoration is a non-trivial task. This research investigates optimization schemes for GANs that improve image quality by providing meaningful training objective functions. In this paper we use a DeblurGAN and Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (SRGAN) on the chosen dataset.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Kuhlane, Luxolo L , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden , Marais, Marc
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465157 , vital:76578 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luxolo-Kuhlane/publication/363257796_Deep_Learning_Approach_to_Image_Deblurring_and_Image_Super-Resolution_using_DeblurGAN_and_SRGAN/links/6313b5a01ddd44702131b3df/Deep-Learning-Approach-to-Image-Deblurring-and-Image-Super-Resolution-using-DeblurGAN-and-SRGAN.pdf"
- Description: Deblurring is the task of restoring a blurred image to a sharp one, retrieving the information lost due to the blur of an image. Image deblurring and super-resolution, as representative image restoration problems, have been studied for a decade. Due to their wide range of applications, numerous techniques have been proposed to tackle these problems, inspiring innovations for better performance. Deep learning has become a robust framework for many image processing tasks, including restoration. In particular, generative adversarial networks (GANs), proposed by [1], have demonstrated remarkable performances in generating plausible images. However, training GANs for image restoration is a non-trivial task. This research investigates optimization schemes for GANs that improve image quality by providing meaningful training objective functions. In this paper we use a DeblurGAN and Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (SRGAN) on the chosen dataset.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
An evaluation of hand-based algorithms for sign language recognition
- Marais, Marc, Brown, Dane L, Connan, James, Boby, Alden
- Authors: Marais, Marc , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465124 , vital:76575 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9856310"
- Description: Sign language recognition is an evolving research field in computer vision, assisting communication between hearing disabled people. Hand gestures contain the majority of the information when signing. Focusing on feature extraction methods to obtain the information stored in hand data in sign language recognition may improve classification accuracy. Pose estimation is a popular method for extracting body and hand landmarks. We implement and compare different feature extraction and segmentation algorithms, focusing on the hands only on the LSA64 dataset. To extract hand landmark coordinates, MediaPipe Holistic is implemented on the sign images. Classification is performed using poplar CNN architectures, namely ResNet and a Pruned VGG network. A separate 1D-CNN is utilised to classify hand landmark coordinates extracted using MediaPipe. The best performance was achieved on the unprocessed raw images using a Pruned VGG network with an accuracy of 95.50%. However, the more computationally efficient model using the hand landmark data and 1D-CNN for classification achieved an accuracy of 94.91%.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Marais, Marc , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465124 , vital:76575 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9856310"
- Description: Sign language recognition is an evolving research field in computer vision, assisting communication between hearing disabled people. Hand gestures contain the majority of the information when signing. Focusing on feature extraction methods to obtain the information stored in hand data in sign language recognition may improve classification accuracy. Pose estimation is a popular method for extracting body and hand landmarks. We implement and compare different feature extraction and segmentation algorithms, focusing on the hands only on the LSA64 dataset. To extract hand landmark coordinates, MediaPipe Holistic is implemented on the sign images. Classification is performed using poplar CNN architectures, namely ResNet and a Pruned VGG network. A separate 1D-CNN is utilised to classify hand landmark coordinates extracted using MediaPipe. The best performance was achieved on the unprocessed raw images using a Pruned VGG network with an accuracy of 95.50%. However, the more computationally efficient model using the hand landmark data and 1D-CNN for classification achieved an accuracy of 94.91%.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Deep face-iris recognition using robust image segmentation and hyperparameter tuning
- Authors: Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465145 , vital:76577 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-3728-5_19"
- Description: Biometrics are increasingly being used for tasks that involve sensitive or financial data. Hitherto, security on devices such as smartphones has not been a priority. Furthermore, users tend to ignore the security features in favour of more rapid access to the device. A bimodal system is proposed that enhances security by utilizing face and iris biometrics from a single image. The motivation behind this is the ability to acquire both biometrics simultaneously in one shot. The system’s biometric components: face, iris(es) and their fusion are evaluated. They are also compared to related studies. The best results were yielded by a proposed lightweight Convolutional Neural Network architecture, outperforming tuned VGG-16, Xception, SVM and the related works. The system shows advancements to ‘at-a-distance’ biometric recognition for limited and high computational capacity computing devices. All deep learning algorithms are provided with augmented data, included in the tuning process, enabling additional accuracy gains. Highlights include near-perfect fivefold cross-validation accuracy on the IITD-Iris dataset when performing identification. Verification tests were carried out on the challenging CASIA-Iris-Distance dataset and performed well on few training samples. The proposed system is practical for small or large amounts of training data and shows great promise for at-a-distance recognition and biometric fusion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465145 , vital:76577 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-3728-5_19"
- Description: Biometrics are increasingly being used for tasks that involve sensitive or financial data. Hitherto, security on devices such as smartphones has not been a priority. Furthermore, users tend to ignore the security features in favour of more rapid access to the device. A bimodal system is proposed that enhances security by utilizing face and iris biometrics from a single image. The motivation behind this is the ability to acquire both biometrics simultaneously in one shot. The system’s biometric components: face, iris(es) and their fusion are evaluated. They are also compared to related studies. The best results were yielded by a proposed lightweight Convolutional Neural Network architecture, outperforming tuned VGG-16, Xception, SVM and the related works. The system shows advancements to ‘at-a-distance’ biometric recognition for limited and high computational capacity computing devices. All deep learning algorithms are provided with augmented data, included in the tuning process, enabling additional accuracy gains. Highlights include near-perfect fivefold cross-validation accuracy on the IITD-Iris dataset when performing identification. Verification tests were carried out on the challenging CASIA-Iris-Distance dataset and performed well on few training samples. The proposed system is practical for small or large amounts of training data and shows great promise for at-a-distance recognition and biometric fusion.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Plant disease detection using deep learning on natural environment images
- De Silva, Malitha, Brown, Dane L
- Authors: De Silva, Malitha , Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465212 , vital:76583 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9855925"
- Description: Improving agriculture is one of the major concerns today, as it helps reduce global hunger. In past years, many technological advancements have been introduced to enhance harvest quality and quantity by controlling and preventing weeds, pests, and diseases. Several studies have focused on identifying diseases in plants, as it helps to make decisions on spraying fungicides and fertilizers. State-of-the-art systems typically combine image processing and deep learning methods to identify conditions with visible symptoms. However, they use already available data sets or images taken in controlled environments. This study was conducted on two data sets of ten plants collected in a natural environment. The first dataset contained RGB Visible images, while the second contained Near-Infrared (NIR) images of healthy and diseased leaves. The visible image dataset showed higher training and validation accuracies than the NIR image dataset with ResNet, Inception, VGG and MobileNet architectures. For the visible image and NIR dataset, ResNet-50V2 outperformed other models with validation accuracies of 98.35% and 94.01%, respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: De Silva, Malitha , Brown, Dane L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465212 , vital:76583 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9855925"
- Description: Improving agriculture is one of the major concerns today, as it helps reduce global hunger. In past years, many technological advancements have been introduced to enhance harvest quality and quantity by controlling and preventing weeds, pests, and diseases. Several studies have focused on identifying diseases in plants, as it helps to make decisions on spraying fungicides and fertilizers. State-of-the-art systems typically combine image processing and deep learning methods to identify conditions with visible symptoms. However, they use already available data sets or images taken in controlled environments. This study was conducted on two data sets of ten plants collected in a natural environment. The first dataset contained RGB Visible images, while the second contained Near-Infrared (NIR) images of healthy and diseased leaves. The visible image dataset showed higher training and validation accuracies than the NIR image dataset with ResNet, Inception, VGG and MobileNet architectures. For the visible image and NIR dataset, ResNet-50V2 outperformed other models with validation accuracies of 98.35% and 94.01%, respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Investigating signer-independent sign language recognition on the lsa64 dataset
- Marais, Marc, Brown, Dane L, Connan, James, Boby, Alden, Kuhlane, Luxolo L
- Authors: Marais, Marc , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden , Kuhlane, Luxolo L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465179 , vital:76580 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc-Marais/publication/363174384_Investigating_Signer-Independ-ent_Sign_Language_Recognition_on_the_LSA64_Dataset/links/63108c7d5eed5e4bd138680f/Investigating-Signer-Independent-Sign-Language-Recognition-on-the-LSA64-Dataset.pdf"
- Description: Conversing with hearing disabled people is a significant challenge; however, computer vision advancements have significantly improved this through automated sign language recognition. One of the common issues in sign language recognition is signer-dependence, where variations arise from varying signers, who gesticulate naturally. Utilising the LSA64 dataset, a small scale Argentinian isolated sign language recognition, we investigate signer-independent sign language recognition. An InceptionV3-GRU architecture is employed to extract and classify spatial and temporal information for automated sign language recognition. The signer-dependent approach yielded an accuracy of 97.03%, whereas the signer-independent approach achieved an accuracy of 74.22%. The signer-independent system shows promise towards addressing the real-world and common issue of signer-dependence in sign language recognition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Marais, Marc , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Boby, Alden , Kuhlane, Luxolo L
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465179 , vital:76580 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marc-Marais/publication/363174384_Investigating_Signer-Independ-ent_Sign_Language_Recognition_on_the_LSA64_Dataset/links/63108c7d5eed5e4bd138680f/Investigating-Signer-Independent-Sign-Language-Recognition-on-the-LSA64-Dataset.pdf"
- Description: Conversing with hearing disabled people is a significant challenge; however, computer vision advancements have significantly improved this through automated sign language recognition. One of the common issues in sign language recognition is signer-dependence, where variations arise from varying signers, who gesticulate naturally. Utilising the LSA64 dataset, a small scale Argentinian isolated sign language recognition, we investigate signer-independent sign language recognition. An InceptionV3-GRU architecture is employed to extract and classify spatial and temporal information for automated sign language recognition. The signer-dependent approach yielded an accuracy of 97.03%, whereas the signer-independent approach achieved an accuracy of 74.22%. The signer-independent system shows promise towards addressing the real-world and common issue of signer-dependence in sign language recognition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Investigating the Effects of Image Correction Through Affine Transformations on Licence Plate Recognition
- Boby, Alden, Brown, Dane L, Connan, James, Marais, Marc
- Authors: Boby, Alden , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Marais, Marc
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465190 , vital:76581 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9856380"
- Description: Licence plate recognition has many real-world applications, which fall under security and surveillance. Deep learning for licence plate recognition has been adopted to improve existing image-based processing techniques in recent years. Object detectors are a popular choice for approaching this task. All object detectors are some form of a convolutional neural network. The You Only Look Once framework and Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks are popular models within this field. A novel architecture called the Warped Planar Object Detector is a recent development by Zou et al. that takes inspiration from YOLO and Spatial Network Transformers. This paper aims to compare the performance of the Warped Planar Object Detector and YOLO on licence plate recognition by training both models with the same data and then directing their output to an Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network to upscale the output image, then lastly using an Optical Character Recognition engine to classify characters detected from the images.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Boby, Alden , Brown, Dane L , Connan, James , Marais, Marc
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/465190 , vital:76581 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9856380"
- Description: Licence plate recognition has many real-world applications, which fall under security and surveillance. Deep learning for licence plate recognition has been adopted to improve existing image-based processing techniques in recent years. Object detectors are a popular choice for approaching this task. All object detectors are some form of a convolutional neural network. The You Only Look Once framework and Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks are popular models within this field. A novel architecture called the Warped Planar Object Detector is a recent development by Zou et al. that takes inspiration from YOLO and Spatial Network Transformers. This paper aims to compare the performance of the Warped Planar Object Detector and YOLO on licence plate recognition by training both models with the same data and then directing their output to an Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network to upscale the output image, then lastly using an Optical Character Recognition engine to classify characters detected from the images.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Beyond mastery: jazz, gender and power in postapartheid South Africa
- Authors: Williams, Ulagh
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Feminist theory , Women jazz musicians South Africa , Music Instruction and study , Interpretative phenomenological analysis , Control (Psychology) , Male domination (Social structure)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432505 , vital:72876 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432512
- Description: This dissertation studies the musical lives of seven South African women who have built highprofile national and international careers as jazz musicians. Empirically it records self-reported experiences and actions that they have identified as relevant to their success within a notoriously patriarchal field. Drawing on feminist research methods and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis the dissertation strives to develop an empathic yet critical epistemological framework attuned to the complexities of their lived experiences as women and as jazz musicians. Theoretically it investigates the power relations at play in the myriad ways they negotiate or have been impelled to negotiate gender and patriarchy as musicians. Chapter one draws attention to the ubiquity of patriarchy in South African and international jazz culture, and highlights the research participants’ numerous successes to date as performers, educators, composers, and bandleaders. Chapter two positions this study in relation to cognate work in South African jazz studies, international feminist jazz studies and feminist phenomenology. Chapters three to five successively consider the participants’ early enculturation as musical and gendered subjects, their agentic responses to structures of patriarchy and/or race as emerging and established professionals, and the ways these experiences have found expression in some of their musical utterances as performers and composers. Fusing art and activism, the participants challenge and transcend masculinist discourses of mastery that still dominate South African jazz as a field of production and aesthetic practice. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Music and Musicology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Williams, Ulagh
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Feminist theory , Women jazz musicians South Africa , Music Instruction and study , Interpretative phenomenological analysis , Control (Psychology) , Male domination (Social structure)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432505 , vital:72876 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432512
- Description: This dissertation studies the musical lives of seven South African women who have built highprofile national and international careers as jazz musicians. Empirically it records self-reported experiences and actions that they have identified as relevant to their success within a notoriously patriarchal field. Drawing on feminist research methods and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis the dissertation strives to develop an empathic yet critical epistemological framework attuned to the complexities of their lived experiences as women and as jazz musicians. Theoretically it investigates the power relations at play in the myriad ways they negotiate or have been impelled to negotiate gender and patriarchy as musicians. Chapter one draws attention to the ubiquity of patriarchy in South African and international jazz culture, and highlights the research participants’ numerous successes to date as performers, educators, composers, and bandleaders. Chapter two positions this study in relation to cognate work in South African jazz studies, international feminist jazz studies and feminist phenomenology. Chapters three to five successively consider the participants’ early enculturation as musical and gendered subjects, their agentic responses to structures of patriarchy and/or race as emerging and established professionals, and the ways these experiences have found expression in some of their musical utterances as performers and composers. Fusing art and activism, the participants challenge and transcend masculinist discourses of mastery that still dominate South African jazz as a field of production and aesthetic practice. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Music and Musicology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
An ethnomedical study of the role and impact of cannabidiol (CBD) treatment of women living with endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- Authors: Norman, Paige Sarah
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Polycystic ovary syndrome Alternative treatment , Endometriosis Alternative treatment , Cannabidiol , Cannabis , Pain management , Traditional medicine , Feminist anthropology , Women's health services
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408652 , vital:70513
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Norman, Paige Sarah
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Polycystic ovary syndrome Alternative treatment , Endometriosis Alternative treatment , Cannabidiol , Cannabis , Pain management , Traditional medicine , Feminist anthropology , Women's health services
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408652 , vital:70513
- Description: Over the last few years, there has been a notable increase in popularity in the use of cannabidiol (CBD) as a form of alternative medicinal treatment for various illnesses. CBD, a by-product of the cannabis plant, is an isolate and does not contain the psychoactive agent, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are chronic reproductive health sicknesses that are increasingly experienced by women. In the absence of cures, biomedical treatment for these diseases aim to manage symptoms, for example; heavy bleeding, heightened levels of pain, and insomnia. CBD offers an alternative to women who feel that biomedical interventions are no longer able to maintain their health and well-being. CBD positions itself as a natural remedy claiming to be safe and effective. This research study, mainly through qualitative data collection, focused on experiences of Zimbabwean and South African women living with endometriosis and/ or PCOS, who have turned to CBD to manage their symptoms. The importance of this study was to position itself within patients’ lived experiences. The research study found that CBD indeed has numerous benefits, including pain management, alleviating stress, and anxiety. Through the emergent themes from the data, it became clear that women are marginalised and treated unequally in the biomedical healthcare sphere. Feminist Anthropology and Structural Violence was applied to analyse the data collected to explore the patriarchal nature of the biomedical healthcare system and the experiences that women have, which has led them to turn to alternative treatments. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Review of Importance of Weather and Environmental Variables in Agent-Based Arbovirus Models
- Pascoe, Luba, Clemen, Thomas, Bradshaw, Karen L, Nyambo, Devotha G
- Authors: Pascoe, Luba , Clemen, Thomas , Bradshaw, Karen L , Nyambo, Devotha G
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440300 , vital:73764 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315578"
- Description: The study sought to review the works of literature on agent-based modeling and the influence of climatic and environmental factors on disease outbreak, transmission, and surveillance. Thus, drawing the influence of environmental variables such as vegetation index, households, mosquito habitats, breeding sites, and climatic variables including precipitation or rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity on dengue disease modeling using the agent-based model in an African context and globally was the aim of the study. A search strategy was developed and used to search for relevant articles from four databases, namely, PubMed, Scopus, Research4Life, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria were developed, and 20 articles met the criteria and have been included in the review. From the reviewed works of literature, the study observed that climatic and environmental factors may influence the arbovirus disease outbreak, transmission, and surveillance. Thus, there is a call for further research on the area. To benefit from arbovirus modeling, it is crucial to consider the influence of climatic and environmental factors, especially in Africa, where there are limited studies exploring this phenomenon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Pascoe, Luba , Clemen, Thomas , Bradshaw, Karen L , Nyambo, Devotha G
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440300 , vital:73764 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315578"
- Description: The study sought to review the works of literature on agent-based modeling and the influence of climatic and environmental factors on disease outbreak, transmission, and surveillance. Thus, drawing the influence of environmental variables such as vegetation index, households, mosquito habitats, breeding sites, and climatic variables including precipitation or rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity on dengue disease modeling using the agent-based model in an African context and globally was the aim of the study. A search strategy was developed and used to search for relevant articles from four databases, namely, PubMed, Scopus, Research4Life, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria were developed, and 20 articles met the criteria and have been included in the review. From the reviewed works of literature, the study observed that climatic and environmental factors may influence the arbovirus disease outbreak, transmission, and surveillance. Thus, there is a call for further research on the area. To benefit from arbovirus modeling, it is crucial to consider the influence of climatic and environmental factors, especially in Africa, where there are limited studies exploring this phenomenon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
The emergence of isiZulu in Skeem Saam (2011)
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/277956 , vital:55335 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2022.2063115"
- Description: This study aims to investigate how an ecological understanding of polyglossia is used in the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) television channel, SABC 1 to maintain and create ethnolinguistic dominance. Key arguments this study will make are: (1) polyglossia is a language ideology masquerading as ethnolinguistic pluralism, (2) there is a loss of ethnolinguistic pluralism in SABC 1 because of the polyglot culture and its transmissions, (3) isiZulu is emerging as a language and cultural flare of the channel. This paper concluded that isiZulu’s presence is rising in a soap initially meant to be a Sepedi show. And this has negative consequences for language equality in the SABC.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Aiseng, Kealeboga
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/277956 , vital:55335 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2022.2063115"
- Description: This study aims to investigate how an ecological understanding of polyglossia is used in the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) television channel, SABC 1 to maintain and create ethnolinguistic dominance. Key arguments this study will make are: (1) polyglossia is a language ideology masquerading as ethnolinguistic pluralism, (2) there is a loss of ethnolinguistic pluralism in SABC 1 because of the polyglot culture and its transmissions, (3) isiZulu is emerging as a language and cultural flare of the channel. This paper concluded that isiZulu’s presence is rising in a soap initially meant to be a Sepedi show. And this has negative consequences for language equality in the SABC.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Variables associated with run out opportunities in cricket: coaches’ perceptions versus video analyses of the Indian Premier League 2018/2019 seasons
- Authors: Sholto-Douglas, Robert
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Indian Premier League , Cricket Coaching , Video analysis , Fielding , Run out
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365014 , vital:65670
- Description: The purpose of this investigation was to add a scientific element to the understanding of run out opportunities in T20 (twenty/twenty) formats, which would in turn, provide recommendations to players and coaches around the topic of run outs. Due to a lack of research in this field, the study was two-fold, as there is little research known on this topic. Firstly, surveying experienced coaches on what they would expect to take place during run out opportunities from different areas of the field in a T20 game. Secondly, the study looked at what happened during successful and unsuccessful run outs from different areas of the field in two Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons. The aim of the study was to determine what variables, within an area of fielding, led to a successful or non-successful run out from different zones in the field. Coaches were required to fill out a survey which asked them to give their expectations on run out opportunities during a T20 competition. The data from the questionnaire would be used to gain a greater understanding of the way coaches understand different characteristics of run outs and whether this matched the findings of the second part of this study. The second part of the study investigated run out opportunities in two consecutive IPL seasons, based on video footage, looking at how different variables impacted successful or marginally missed run out opportunities in different areas of the field and at different times of the game. The areas were put into four different zones. Zone 1 being close to the batter, zone 2 being in the inner ring, zone 3 being on the edge of the ring and zone 4 being boundary fielders. Most of the coaches believed that in zone 1 of the field, the bowler would have the most opportunities, where in fact, based on the video footage, these fell to the wicket-keeper. In zone 2 there were a larger range of fielding positions (10) that run outs fell to when analysing video footage. The coaches supported this by often naming the same fielding positions. There was a divide in zone 3. Most run out opportunities from the video footage came to extra cover, where most coaches didn’t believe that would be the case and rather mentioned mid-off and mid-on. When analysing video footage in zone 4, it had two fielding positions (long on and deep mid-wicket) make up the majority of run out chances in this area and these two positions were quoted by most of the coaches as having the most run out opportunities fall to them. Throughout the findings, as concluded from the video footage, there were some results that matched the coaches’ expectation and some results where findings from the video footage differed from the coaches’ expectations. These findings are all useful. Firstly, it validates coaching practices. Secondly, it provides coaches with greater insight as to where they aren’t getting it correct in their fielding training. In conclusion, this study found that although coaches perceptions, for the most part, matched what took place on the field, there were instances where we saw the opposite action take place. This has important practical implications for coaching and practice. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Human Kinetics and Ergonomics, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Sholto-Douglas, Robert
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Indian Premier League , Cricket Coaching , Video analysis , Fielding , Run out
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365014 , vital:65670
- Description: The purpose of this investigation was to add a scientific element to the understanding of run out opportunities in T20 (twenty/twenty) formats, which would in turn, provide recommendations to players and coaches around the topic of run outs. Due to a lack of research in this field, the study was two-fold, as there is little research known on this topic. Firstly, surveying experienced coaches on what they would expect to take place during run out opportunities from different areas of the field in a T20 game. Secondly, the study looked at what happened during successful and unsuccessful run outs from different areas of the field in two Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons. The aim of the study was to determine what variables, within an area of fielding, led to a successful or non-successful run out from different zones in the field. Coaches were required to fill out a survey which asked them to give their expectations on run out opportunities during a T20 competition. The data from the questionnaire would be used to gain a greater understanding of the way coaches understand different characteristics of run outs and whether this matched the findings of the second part of this study. The second part of the study investigated run out opportunities in two consecutive IPL seasons, based on video footage, looking at how different variables impacted successful or marginally missed run out opportunities in different areas of the field and at different times of the game. The areas were put into four different zones. Zone 1 being close to the batter, zone 2 being in the inner ring, zone 3 being on the edge of the ring and zone 4 being boundary fielders. Most of the coaches believed that in zone 1 of the field, the bowler would have the most opportunities, where in fact, based on the video footage, these fell to the wicket-keeper. In zone 2 there were a larger range of fielding positions (10) that run outs fell to when analysing video footage. The coaches supported this by often naming the same fielding positions. There was a divide in zone 3. Most run out opportunities from the video footage came to extra cover, where most coaches didn’t believe that would be the case and rather mentioned mid-off and mid-on. When analysing video footage in zone 4, it had two fielding positions (long on and deep mid-wicket) make up the majority of run out chances in this area and these two positions were quoted by most of the coaches as having the most run out opportunities fall to them. Throughout the findings, as concluded from the video footage, there were some results that matched the coaches’ expectation and some results where findings from the video footage differed from the coaches’ expectations. These findings are all useful. Firstly, it validates coaching practices. Secondly, it provides coaches with greater insight as to where they aren’t getting it correct in their fielding training. In conclusion, this study found that although coaches perceptions, for the most part, matched what took place on the field, there were instances where we saw the opposite action take place. This has important practical implications for coaching and practice. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Human Kinetics and Ergonomics, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Stereotyping, Exploitation, and Appropriation of African Traditional Religious Beliefs: The Case of Nyaminyami, Water Spirit, among the Batonga People of Northwestern Zimbabwe, 1860s–1960s
- Authors: Matanzima, Joshua
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426543 , vital:72361 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrireli.10.1.0072"
- Description: This article examines the forms of knowledge that existed between Africans and Europeans regarding local indigenous religious beliefs, focusing particularly on the case of Nyaminyami, a water spirit that is part of the belief systems prevalent among some BaTonga people of northwestern Zimbabwe. The article briefly outlines the “traditional” BaTonga beliefs and practices relating to Nyaminyami, which were diametrically opposed to those of the Europeans. It then scrutinizes the ways the beliefs have been exploited and appropriated by different interest groups and races from the 1860s to the 1960s. The BaTonga people, who held strong beliefs in Nyaminyami, and European colonists used the idea of Nyaminyami for different social, political, and environmental agendas prior to, during, and after resettlement. Nyaminyami played changing sociocultural and economic functions for the BaTonga people over time. They revered Nyaminyami as their river god in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; they also appropriated the beliefs by rallying behind the river god for protection from their displacement in 1958 following the construction of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River. Nyaminyami was also appropriated by European interest groups who used the idea of Nyaminyami to cast Africa as the “dark continent” and to stereotype the BaTonga people as primitive. This article relies on data obtained through a reading of European explorers' texts and by gathering oral traditions among the BaTonga and Shangwe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Matanzima, Joshua
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426543 , vital:72361 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5325/jafrireli.10.1.0072"
- Description: This article examines the forms of knowledge that existed between Africans and Europeans regarding local indigenous religious beliefs, focusing particularly on the case of Nyaminyami, a water spirit that is part of the belief systems prevalent among some BaTonga people of northwestern Zimbabwe. The article briefly outlines the “traditional” BaTonga beliefs and practices relating to Nyaminyami, which were diametrically opposed to those of the Europeans. It then scrutinizes the ways the beliefs have been exploited and appropriated by different interest groups and races from the 1860s to the 1960s. The BaTonga people, who held strong beliefs in Nyaminyami, and European colonists used the idea of Nyaminyami for different social, political, and environmental agendas prior to, during, and after resettlement. Nyaminyami played changing sociocultural and economic functions for the BaTonga people over time. They revered Nyaminyami as their river god in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; they also appropriated the beliefs by rallying behind the river god for protection from their displacement in 1958 following the construction of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River. Nyaminyami was also appropriated by European interest groups who used the idea of Nyaminyami to cast Africa as the “dark continent” and to stereotype the BaTonga people as primitive. This article relies on data obtained through a reading of European explorers' texts and by gathering oral traditions among the BaTonga and Shangwe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
IFRS and FPI nexus: does the quality of the institutional framework matter for African countries?
- Simbi, Chipo, Arendse, Jacqueline A, Khumalo, Sibanisezwe A
- Authors: Simbi, Chipo , Arendse, Jacqueline A , Khumalo, Sibanisezwe A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426448 , vital:72354 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JAEE-10-2021-0319"
- Description: The institutional framework of an African country may influence the effectiveness of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on foreign investment inflows. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the quality of a country's institutional framework impacts the effectiveness of IFRS to an adopting country and ultimately influences the levels of Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Simbi, Chipo , Arendse, Jacqueline A , Khumalo, Sibanisezwe A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426448 , vital:72354 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JAEE-10-2021-0319"
- Description: The institutional framework of an African country may influence the effectiveness of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on foreign investment inflows. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the quality of a country's institutional framework impacts the effectiveness of IFRS to an adopting country and ultimately influences the levels of Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
The molecular basis of the effect of temperature on the structure and function of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
- Khan, Faez I, Lobb, Kevin A, Lai, Dakun
- Authors: Khan, Faez I , Lobb, Kevin A , Lai, Dakun
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453223 , vital:75232 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2022.794960"
- Description: The remarkable rise of the current COVID-19 pandemic to every part of the globe has raised key concerns for the current public healthcare system. The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 shows an important part in the cell membrane fusion and receptor recognition. It is a key target for vaccine production. Several researchers studied the nature of this protein under various environmental conditions. In this work, we applied molecular modeling and extensive molecular dynamics simulation approaches at 0°C (273.15 K), 20°C (293.15 K), 40°C (313.15 K), and 60°C (333.15 K) to study the detailed conformational alterations in the SARS-CoV-2 S protein. Our aim is to understand the influence of temperatures on the structure, function, and dynamics of the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. The structural deviations, and atomic and residual fluctuations were least at low (0°C) and high (60°C) temperature. Even the internal residues of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein are not accessible to solvent at high temperature. Furthermore, there was no unfolding of SARS-CoV-2 spike S reported at higher temperature. The most stable conformations of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein were reported at 20°C, but the free energy minimum region of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein was sharper at 40°C than other temperatures. Our findings revealed that higher temperatures have little or no influence on the stability and folding of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Khan, Faez I , Lobb, Kevin A , Lai, Dakun
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453223 , vital:75232 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2022.794960"
- Description: The remarkable rise of the current COVID-19 pandemic to every part of the globe has raised key concerns for the current public healthcare system. The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 shows an important part in the cell membrane fusion and receptor recognition. It is a key target for vaccine production. Several researchers studied the nature of this protein under various environmental conditions. In this work, we applied molecular modeling and extensive molecular dynamics simulation approaches at 0°C (273.15 K), 20°C (293.15 K), 40°C (313.15 K), and 60°C (333.15 K) to study the detailed conformational alterations in the SARS-CoV-2 S protein. Our aim is to understand the influence of temperatures on the structure, function, and dynamics of the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. The structural deviations, and atomic and residual fluctuations were least at low (0°C) and high (60°C) temperature. Even the internal residues of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein are not accessible to solvent at high temperature. Furthermore, there was no unfolding of SARS-CoV-2 spike S reported at higher temperature. The most stable conformations of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein were reported at 20°C, but the free energy minimum region of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein was sharper at 40°C than other temperatures. Our findings revealed that higher temperatures have little or no influence on the stability and folding of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Solvent promoted tautomerism in thione-containing tetraazatricyclics: evidence from 1H NMR spectroscopy and transition state studies
- Odame, Felix, Tshentu, Zenixole R, Lobb, Kevin A
- Authors: Odame, Felix , Tshentu, Zenixole R , Lobb, Kevin A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453198 , vital:75230 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00894-022-05204-w"
- Description: Tautomerism in the nitro substituted thione-containing traazatricyclics has been investigated. Evidence from 1 H NMR indicating the existence of the tautomers has been augmented with computational studies providing evidence of the stability or otherwise of these tautomers. The role of water and DMSO in the formation of the tautomers has been explained. The role of the nitro group in assisting in the formation of the tautomers has been discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Odame, Felix , Tshentu, Zenixole R , Lobb, Kevin A
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/453198 , vital:75230 , xlink:href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00894-022-05204-w"
- Description: Tautomerism in the nitro substituted thione-containing traazatricyclics has been investigated. Evidence from 1 H NMR indicating the existence of the tautomers has been augmented with computational studies providing evidence of the stability or otherwise of these tautomers. The role of water and DMSO in the formation of the tautomers has been explained. The role of the nitro group in assisting in the formation of the tautomers has been discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022