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Drought tolerance responses in vegetable-type soybean involve a network of biochemical mechanisms at flowering and pod-filling stages
No full textSevere drought stress affects the production of vegetable-type soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill), which is in infancy for Africa despite its huge nutritional benefits. This study was conducted under controlled environmental conditions to establish the effects of severe drought stress on ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities as well as proline, total soluble sugars (TSS), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) contents of five vegetable-type soybean cultivars (UVE8, UVE14, UVE17, AGS354, AGS429) at flowering and pod-filling stages. Drought induced significant increases in the contents of proline (selectively at pod filling for AGS429), TSS (at both stages for AGS429, and only at pod filling for UVE14), and malondialdehyde (AGS354 at flowering; UVE17 at pod filling). UVE8 and AGS354 had the highest H2O2 levels at flowering under drought stress, while AGS429 had the lowest. However, AGS429 was the only cultivar with significantly increased H2O2 under drought stress. Furthermore, drought stress induced significant increases in APX, GPX, and GR activities at flowering for AGS429. AGS354 recorded the highest decline for all antioxidative enzymes, while UVE17 decreased for GPX only. All biochemical parameters, except H2O2, were significantly higher at pod filling than at the flowering stage. The relationship between H2O2 and total seed mass (TSMP) or total seed per plant (TSP) was significantly positive for both stages, while that of TSS (at flowering) and proline (at pod filling) were significantly related to total pods per plant (TPP). The study suggests that during drought, the tolerance responses of vegetable-type soybean, APX, GPX, and GR (especially at the flowering stage), function in concert to minimize H2O2 production and lipid peroxidation, thereby allowing H2O2 to function in the signaling events leading to the induction of drought tolerance. The induction of TSS at flowering and proline at pod filling is important in the drought tolerance response of this crop.Publisher's versio
Profile of cardiac patients who delivered at Universitas Academic Hospital (UAH) in Bloemfontein South Africa: 2012 – 2017
No full textINTRODUCTION: Maternal deaths related to cardiac disease in pregnancy is rising globally. Cardiac disease remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in women with medical and surgical conditions in South Africa. Prevalence of cardiac disease in pregnancy ranges between 0.10.9% in South Africa. Pre-existing cardiac disease also contributes to significant perinatal morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES: To assess the profile of women with cardiac disease who delivered at UAH, taking into account maternal and perinatal outcomes, and to identify underlying risks. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 148 files of pregnant women with cardiac disease who delivered at UAH between January 2012 and December 2017 was carried out. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarise categorical data. Medians and percentiles were used to summarise numerical data. The data analysis was generated using the SAS statistical software. RESULTS: There were 3 154 deliveries at UAH during the study period. The prevalence of cardiac disease in pregnancy was 4.7% (n=148), with black women most affected (89.7%). The average age was 27.0 years. The youngest parturient was 16 years old and the oldest 43 years old. The majority of the patients (71.6%) booked antenatal care in the second trimester, with average gestational age at 19.5 weeks. One hundred and six women (71.6%) tested negative for HIV. The study population had an average BMI of 27. The average gestational age at delivery was 36.7 weeks, with 27.3% of the babies born preterm. Twenty-one (15.3%) of these neonates were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. There were eight stillborn deliveries with no neonatal deaths reported. The Caesarean section rate was 67.6%. Vaginal deliveries were 32.4% of all deliveries, and 31.9% (15) of these were assisted deliveries. Of the patients with cardiac disease, 85% were New York Heart Association class (NYHA) I and II. Rheumatic heart disease (RHD), congenital heart disease (CHD) and cardiomyopathy was diagnosed in 48.6% (n=72), 24.3% (n=36) and 18.9% (n=28) of cases respectively. Cardiac failure and pulmonary oedema contributed 56% of maternal morbidity. Cardiac failure was indication for 43.8% of intensive care unit admissions. Six deaths were reported, with a case fatality rate of 4.05%. Peripartum cardiomyopathy was the cause of death in five deaths and valve thrombosis in one death respectively. All deaths were NYHA functional class III and IV. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of cardiac disease among pregnant women is increasing, with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) being the leading aetiology. The most significant increase was that of congenital heart lesions. Pregnancies complicated by underlying cardiac disease are associated with maternal and perinatal morbidity
Exploring factors influencing Grade 7 learners’ performance in Mathematics in the Frances Baard District
No full textThe performance of learners who reach Grade 7 level tends to decline owing to a number of factors. Presently, learners from more impoverished communities are denied access to the trending resources, which places them at a disadvantage. Psychological factors, social and academic factors affect learners and this impacts their academic performance. Learners who reach Grade 7 are in the same school in South Africa as the Grade 6s, because in the previous curriculum that South Africa used, the differentiation only came about in Grade 8. In the CAPS curriculum, a new phase starts in Grade 7. It would be problematic for Grade 7 to be physically moved to a new school. Thus, the difficulty in Mathematics occurs when learners reach Grade 7. The study focused on learners who reach Grade 7 in the same school in South Africa as the Grade 6 learners, because in the previous curriculum that South Africa used, the differentiation only came about in Grade 8. In the CAPS curriculum, a new phase starts in Grade 7. It would be problematic for a Grade 7 learner to be physically moved to a new school. Thus, the difficulty in Mathematics occurs when learners reach Grade 7. The study seeks to explore the most imposing factors that influence Grade 7 learners’ performance in Mathematics at the Senior Phase. Furthermore, the study aims to explore the best teaching strategies for mathematical concepts thereby enhancing the performance of learners. The study also aims to help parents guide learners in choosing the most beneficial methods of achieving their goals in Mathematics. The objectives of the study were to explore the reasons why learners’ marks tend to be lower when they reach Grade 7, and identifying the challenges that militate against learners’ academic performance. Considering the above will allow teachers to adopt the best strategies to mitigate the challenge of marks decreasing. Six teachers, who were the participants for this study, were purposively chosen from the six schools selected for the study. Also selected for this study were six focus groups of four learners each. The qualitative research approach located within the contours of the interpretivist paradigm were chosen for this study. The case study design was used as the research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers and focus group discussions were held with the learners during the data collection process. Data were organised into categories and analysed using thematic analysis, which uses themes. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory formed the theoretical framework underpinning this study. This theory proposes that individuals develop in relation to environmental conditions, the time spent in the environment, and an individual’s personal characteristics. The limitations of the study included the fact that the sample was small and drawn only from public schools in a predominantly rural province. The results of the study were that learners displayed resilience in the face of the difficulties they experienced and the teachers ascertained that the learners recover quickly from the difficulties they may experience. However, the study found that although teachers are adequately trained and experienced in Mathematics, they need to enhance their curriculum delivery skills to include 21st century skills. This will ensure that learners remain focused and engaged during classes. Furthermore, the learners felt excluded by the outdated teaching pedagogies used by their teachers. One of the recommendations derived from the findings of the study is that teachers ought to adopt learner-centred teaching pedagogies that continue to keep learners engaged. Learners are exposed to modern digital technologies like television, computers and mobile phones, to which schools do not have adequate access. The study further recommends that teachers must modify their teaching approaches to learner-centred approaches that consider the use of digital technologies and thus respond appropriately to learners’ interests. Teachers should teach learners time management skills to capacitate them to manage their time when undertaking their academic work. This study further suggests that schools should elicit the aid of social services to support learners in difficult socio-economic situations (SESs)
Protest as political communication -investigating the metsimaholo demarcation protest of 2013
No full textThis mini dissertation investigates the political communication undertones of service demarcation protests in South Africa, with a focus on the Metsimaholo Municipality protests of 2013 in the Free State province, South Africa. This study is aimed at evaluating demarcation protests as a form of subaltern agency and political communication. It argues that protests, represents a medium by which marginalised communities mount their reply to social marginalization and disenfranchisement by formal administrative structures and processes of service delivery, public participation and several issues that elicit their disenchantment and dissension. The research is a contribution to the study of rampant residents' protests in Metsimaholo Municipality and around the country
The implementation of a bilingual-bicultural literacy intervention programme for deaf learners in Namibia
No full textThe Bilingual-Bicultural approach is considered the best approach to teach deaf learners. This approach also provides the best opportunity for deaf learners to become biliterate. Namibia too has adopted the Bilingual-Bicultural approach to teaching deaf learners and are a signatory to national and international policies and laws to ensure deaf learners are provided with the best opportunity for an education. Contrary to the adoption of the Bilingual-Bicultural approach, policies and laws, no impact has been seen on an improvement in the deaf learners’ academic performance. Deaf learners still leave school with low literacy levels and unsure of their future. The main purpose of this study was to find the best instructional practices to teach deaf learners through the Bilingual-Bicultural approach. This was done through the implementation of an intervention programme that can narrow the delay and gap in language learning and literacy. The study adopted a programme evaluation within a multi-method research design. The research objectives accommodated the implementation of a Bilingual-Bicultural literacy intervention programme for deaf learners. The data for the study consisted of quantitative data in the form of measurements based on diagnostic tests and qualitative data in the form of document analysis, participant and non-participant observations as well as unstructured interviews. The variety of data directed the study to a multi-data analysis. The themes that were established for feedback of the research findings originated from the research objectives and the programme evaluation questions that were drawn up to guide the evaluation of the Bilingual-Bicultural literacy programme. The emphasis of the intervention programme was to draw up new and adopted Integrated Planning Manuals that are based on the NSL and Written English syllabuses and prescribed language skills of both language subjects. From the new IPMs, lessons were designed for both language subjects. Teaching and learning materials were also designed to support the lessons. The programme envisaged a systematic method of learning the deaf learners the two languages at the same time. The aim was to teach Written English based on NSL. The programme had a dual integrated approach in that it integrated into specific themes and topics for a week and the language skills for each language subject. It also integrates into the other subjects that are taught to the learners. The programme was systematic in teaching learners in small portions, every time building on these small portions. Teachers were provided with deliberate training on the instructional practices that were intended for the programme. The implementation of the Bilingual-Bicultural literacy programme resulted in a positive impact and improvement on the biliteracy of the deaf learners. Statistical analyses underscored the value of the intervention program. T-tests yielded statistical significant results for both NSL and Written English skills with regard to the total scores as well as the sub-tests included in this study (p<0.05). The teachers who participated in the study showed significant teacher attributes in the form of self-efficacy, the ability to communicate in NSL, experience and skills to teach deaf learners and good teacher-learner relationships. Even though, through the programme, the teachers gained pedagogical knowledge and understanding to applicable instructional practices that can be implemented in their teaching, they lacked support systems to sustain their instruction. Continuous interaction and support are thus recommended at all levels to sustain the further development of the Bilingual-Bicultural literacy programme
Austen’s rainbow: a psychobiographical study of Jane Austen’s career development
No full textEven though several persistent calls for the intentional selection of historically significant women in psychobiography have been made, many psychobiographers continue to select men as their subjects. Although there is an increased diversification of psychobiographical subjects internationally, psychobiographers often deem men as more historically significant than women. It was, therefore, crucial to select an influential and historically significant woman, such as Jane Austen, for this study.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an elusive, yet a highly influential woman who lived and wrote during the Georgian and Regency eras in pre-industrialised England. In her sociohistorical context, which was riddled with the same patriarchal attitudes that guide the more subtle sexism in contemporary society, she managed to amalgamate her life-roles to form a career. Although she only published four novels, struggled with various illnesses, and remained virtually anonymous to the public during her lifetime, many researchers acknowledged Jane Austen’s status as the first modern novelist. However, despite the enormous amount of scholarship surrounding the life of Jane Austen, her career development has not been systematically studied from a psychological framework. Therefore, the researcher purposefully selected the influential and enigmatic Jane Austen for this study and aimed to uncover and reconstruct her career development in-depth and in context using Donald E. Super’s approach to career development. The study aimed to explore and describe Jane Austen’s career development across her life-span. The objective was to analytically generalise Jane Austen’s unique life as a psychobiographical single case to Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space theory. To achieve the mentioned aim and objective in this study, the researcher utilised Alexander’s data reduction strategies to collect, organise, and analyse the abundance of biographical and autobiographical. data on Jane Austen. In order to reduce the substantial amount of historical data, the researcher asked the data questions and used Alexander’s nine indicators of saliency to extract important information. The data was also systematically categorised and analysed according to a psychohistorical matrix, which allowed the researcher to extract data relevant to both Jane Austen’s life-stages and the life-roles she played. The findings of this study suggested that Jane Austen progressed through three of five sequential life-stages, as well as the respective substages as proposed by Super’s framework. More specifically, during the growth stage, Jane Austen managed to achieve four career-related psychosocial tasks, namely the prevocational-curiosity, fantasy, interest, and capacity subtasks. During the exploration stage, Jane Austen reached the milestones of specifying, crystallising, and actualising her career choice. Following this, Jane Austen experienced substantial difficulties in the trial substage of the establishment stage due to the role-strains and role-spillage that occurred from her various life-roles. Nevertheless, Jane Austen managed to stabilise her life-roles by increasing her productivity and success in her role as worker. The findings of this study also suggested Jane Austen’s career commitment gradually increased during her life-span, before her general decline and death at the age of 41. Besides contributing to the research literature about Jane Austen’s life and work, this study provided a single case towards the analytic generalisation to Super’s Life-Space, Life-Span theory. Therefore, the study’s value is found in the expansion of the psychobiographical pool, as well as the in-depth, longitudinal analysis of a female author’s career development. Based on the limitations of this study, recommendations are also made for future research
Syntactic patterns of πᾶς as a quantifier in New Testament Greek
No full textIn linguistic terms, a quantifier is an item that appears with a noun to specify the number or amount of referents indicated by the noun. In English, various kinds of quantification are lexically differentiated—universal quantification (all), distributive quantification (each), and universal-distributive (every). In Greek, however, quantification is conveyed syntactically using primarily one lexical item, namely πᾶς. In this article, we examine the syntactic patterns of πᾶς as a quantifier from a linguistic point of view with attention to the determination of the noun (articular versus anarthrous), the number of the noun (singular versus plural) and the phrasal word order. We also examine the phenomenon of ‘floating’ quantification in which the quantifier moves to a new position in the noun phrase. Finally, we compare the patterns found in New Testament Greek with those of the quantifier כל in the Hebrew Bible in order to determine the extent and type of Semitic interference with respect to quantification in New Testament Greek grammar.
Contribution: The syntactic patterns of πᾶς as a quantifier are identified and the semantic import of each pattern is described. The relationship of πᾶς to the quantifier כל in the Hebrew Bible shows evidence of Semitic interference in New Testament Greek grammar.Publisher's versio
Natural sciences pre-service teachers’ experiences and perceptions of the practical learning component of their bed curriculum
No full textDissertation (M.Ed. (Higher Education Studies))--University of the Free State, 2021Microteaching, as part of pre-service teachers’ preparation towards teacher effectiveness, remains a contentious issue in teacher training. This paper reports on the reflections of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) pre-service teachers, that specialise in Natural Sciences (NS), about microteaching as part of their teaching practice component. Understanding the experiences and perceptions of the NS pre-service teachers can be helpful in determining the components that need to be strengthened to inform the effectiveness of microteaching in general and for the NS classes in particular. Microteaching is a skill-based analytical technique that is used to engage pre-service teachers in practicing their teaching skills in simplified classroom settings. It plays an important part in preparing pre-service teachers for the profession. This qualitative study, framed within an approach based on Bandura’s social learning theories, used focus group discussions and individual interviews to generate data. Eight purposefully sampled NS fourth year education students were sampled to share their microteaching experiences. The focus group discussion and individual interviews revolved around the preparation, presentation and feedback phases of microteaching. Thematic analysis was used to make sense of the focus group discussion and individual interviews. Findings indicated that the NS pre-service teachers had both positive and negative experiences that needed strengthening and attention
Factors influencing food consumption satisfaction and purchase decisions of restaurant consumers
No full textThis research examined how multi-sensory dimensions like sight, sound, and smell would influence customer attitudes toward quick-service restaurants, restaurant patronage intentions, food purchasing decisions, food consumption satisfaction, restaurant attachment, repurchase intention, and positive word of
mouth in South African quick-service restaurants. The research embraced a quantitative approach. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from restaurant customers in the Bloemfontein metropolitan. The hypotheses were analysed by applying structural equation modelling. The results uncovered that the
study variables were significantly associated and surprisingly, restaurant attachment had a negative and insignificant effect on positive word of mouth. This research adds new fresh knowledge to the established body of knowledge in the context of restaurant food consumption behaviour. This area has little research
attention in developing African countries like South Africa.Publisher's versio
A crystallographic investigation of multidentate ligand hafnium(IV) halido complexes
No full textHafnium, the chemical element with atomic number 72 in the titanium-triad on the periodic table, was first discovered by Dirk Coster and George von Hevesy in 1923 by analysing X-Ray spectra of Norwegian zircon samples (sea sand). Hafnium is considered relatively abundant and comprises about three parts per million by weight of the earth's crust. Unfortunately, hafnium only occurs naturally in zirconium ores at an approximate ratio of 1:50 and has almost identical general chemical properties to that of zirconium. Zirconium has a very desirable application in the nuclear industry as a cladding material for nuclear fuel rods due to its low affinity for thermal neutrons. However, for zirconium to be used as a cladding material in nuclear reactors, it must be virtually hafnium free since hafnium has a 600 times larger affinity for thermal neutrons than that of zirconium, turning it into a “poison” in zirconium cladding materials. However, this high affinity for thermal neutrons is exactly why pure Hf makes an excellent shielding material. Therefore, for hafnium and zirconium to be utilised in the nuclear industry, it is apparent why the effective and economically viable separation of these metals to their pure chemical state is vital. The principle aim of this study is focused on studying the solid-state and solution behaviour of hafnium(IV), with various N- and O-donating multidentate ligand systems, in order to obtain valuable new data that could potentially be used to compare to zirconium(IV) to evaluate if metal separation is feasible for industrial applications. Therefore, in this study, the solid-state and solution behaviour of novel hafnium(IV) and zirconium(IV) coordination compounds, obtained from a systematic range of N- and O- bi- and multidentate ligands, is investigated. A detailed description of the synthesis of the hafnium(IV) and zirconium(IV) complexes containing different N,O- and O,O’-bidentate ligand systems as well as N,O,O,N- and N,N’,N’,N-tetradentate ligands are reported and characterised by means of IR, UV/Vis and NMR (1H and 13C) spectroscopies. Moreover, it is clearly illustrated by this study that it is possible to synthesise hafnium(IV) and zirconium(IV) complexes under simple bench-top aerobic conditions. Furthermore, the solid-state structural characterisation by means of single crystal X-Ray Diffraction studies of ten of these synthesised complexes is described in detail. Thus, six novel hafnium(IV)-oxinato complexes containing a systematic range of substituents on the outer periphery of the ligand are firstly presented: (1) [Hf(Ox)4]·2(C7H8), (2) [Hf(5-ClOx)4]·2(C7H8), (3) [Hf(diMeOx)4]·2(DMF), (4) [Hf(diClOx)4]·3DMF, (5) [Hf(diBrOx)4]·3DMF and (6) [Hf(diIOx)4]·DMF and described. The complexes contain non- and substituted 8-hydroxyquinoline (OxH) ligands [with (5-ClOxH) = 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline, (diMeOxH) = 5,7-dimethyl-8-hydroxy-quinoline, (diClOxH) = 5,7-dichloro-8-hydroxyquinoline, (diBrOxH = 5,7-dibromo-8-hydroxyquinoline, (diIOxH) = 5,7-diiodo-8-hydroxyquinoline], and are discussed and compared with regard to the intimate geometric environment around the hafnium(IV) metal centre. It is clearly illustrated by this study that tetrakis-(oxinato)hafnium(IV) complexes prefer the square-antiprismatic coordination geometry in the D2-corner clipped isomer form. It is further shown that all the hafnium(IV) -and zirconium(IV) oxine complexes are very similar with relation to bond lengths, angles and packing modes. Secondly, two new hafnium(IV)-β-diketonato complexes – (7) [Hf(dbm)4] and (8) [Hf(OH)(tfba)3]2·2DMF – are structurally evaluated and described [where (dbmH) = dibenzoylmethane and (tfbaH) = 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-phenyl-1,3-butanedione]. Focus is placed on the influence of ligands when increasing the metallocycle from five (oxine-type ligands) to six (acac-type ligands) and using acac-type ligands containing different electron-donating properties. The effect of electron-withdrawing substituents on the ligand backbone with regards to coordination mode and coordination geometry. These examples show and conclude that hafnium-β-diketonato complexes also prefer a square-antiprismatic coordination geometry in the D2-corner clipped isomer form. Moreover, all the hafnium(IV)- and zirconium(IV)-β-diketonato complexes are very similar with respect to their general geometry and corresponding bond lengths, angles and packing modes. Similar to the oxine-type complexes, this suggests that hafnium(IV) and zirconium(IV) has a certain preference for the chelation sites of the coordinating atoms, regardless of the steric or electronic properties of the ligands as a whole. Thirdly, a novel hafnium(IV) and zirconium(III) complex containing a N,O,O,N- and N,N’,N’,N-tetradentate ligand, respectively – (9) [Hf(salophen)2·2(C7H8), (10) [Zr(pbp)(H2O)2]2NO3·(MeOH) – are structurally evaluated and compared with regard to the intimate geometric environment around the metal centres [where (salophen) =N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-1,2-phenylene-diamine & (pbpH) = N,N'-(1,2-phenylene)bis-(pyridine-2-carboxamide)]. It was found that the eight coordinated hafnium(IV) complex favours a square-antiprismatic coordination polyhedron. However, the six coordinated zirconium(III) complex formed a distorted octahedron as coordination polyhedron around the metal centre, as expected for many six coordinated metal complexes. Finally, preliminary liquid-liquid extraction experiments are described herein, and it is concluded to in principle be considered a preliminary proof-of-concept for separation. The preliminary extraction investigation reported includes liquid-liquid extractions of zirconium- and hafnium-oxine complexes from methanol into dichloromethane and competition extractions, as qualitatively evaluated by (I) UV-Vis spectroscopy and (II) inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy