43867 research outputs found
Sort by
The perceptions and experiences of School Management Teams and teachers regarding continuing professional development of teachers in Digital Literacy amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFAbstract: Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world in 2020, the South African government, through the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), introduced rigid regulations to curb the deadly novel coronavirus from spreading. The forced closure of schools was a bold step to take in order to manage the surge of the pandemic and save lives. While many schools resorted to online teaching, it became evident that many teachers lacked the necessary digital skills to manage online teaching programmes. Also, the lack of technological resources impacted negatively on teaching and learning in primary schools. This study aimed to determine the perceptions and experiences of School Management Teams (SMTs) and teachers regarding the provision of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for teachers in digital literacy. Using a phenomenological approach, data was collected by means of interviews at four primary schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area of the Eastern Cape Province. The study found that most SMT members did not make digital literacy a priority because they lacked the necessary knowledge and skills. It is recommended that teachers and SMTs should be trained in using digital platforms so that teaching and learning can be enhanced
Is South Africa Building a Capable State through Developmental Local Government?
Get PDFAbstract: It is widely agreed that service provision is the biggest challenge facing South African municipalities and particularly smaller municipalities. This paper analyses the South African municipal government with a focus on how it responds to the vision to build a capable state through developmental government – and the eff ects of political interference and corruption - to fi nd ways to reduce the problem of service delivery. A qualitative approach was used, and data were collected from various jurisdictions through record review and telephone interviews to fi ll data knowledge gaps. Most municipalities have described clean water, work prospects and free basic services as the key service delivery obstacles that hinder the realisation of a developmentally competent local government in South Africa. The discussion fi nds that yet another problem is political interference in municipal administration. Although public engagement in civic aff airs is a legal necessity, much remains to be done to bring about meaningful participation. Sanitation has always been a challenge for service delivery, particularly in rural communities, due primarily to a lack of infrastructure. Lastly, it was found that municipalities must do more to create human resources to provide services reflecting a developmentally competent South African local government
Burnout, employee engagement and self-perceived employability in the South African public sector
Get PDFAbstract: Orientation: The employee engagement (EE) approach has been utilised to combat burnout (BO) in both private and public sector institutions. With increasing research, self-perceived employability (SPE) is gaining popularity as an effective tool for reducing BO. Knowledge of the relationship between these three constructs is therefore important for public sector institutions and researchers in Industrial and Organisational (I/O) Psychology and human resource management (HRM) in South Africa. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between BO, EE and SPE amongst employees in South Africa’s public sector. Motivation for the study: Numerous studies have highlighted the prevalence of poor service delivery in public sector institutions in connection with BO and highlighted a decrease in BO through EE and SPE. However, the relationship between these three constructs is still quite unknown. The study’s results will fill the void of research in this area and can be applied in I/O Psychology and HR practices. Research design, approach and method: This quantitative study involved a non-probability sample of 158 South African public sector employees. Correlational and descriptive statistical analyses were used to analyse the data. Main results: Burnout has a significant negative relationship with EE; however, BO does not significantly correlate with SPE. There are significant differences between the various biographical groups and BO, EE and SPE. Practical/managerial implications: Approaches to reducing BO amongst employees should consider EE and SPE as effective tools to enhance employees’ wellness, morale and improved service delivery. Contribution/value-add: Improving the EE levels and enhancing SPE will improve the well-being of employees in public sector institutions and help alleviate employee BO
Development of sorghum Mahewu supplemented with Bambara groundnut
Get PDFAbstract: The fermentation potential and nutritional characteristics of Mahewu (a sorghum-based nonalcoholic beverage product) supplemented with different proportions of Bambara groundnut (BGN) (80:20 and 70:30, respectively) were investigated to develop a sorghum-based beverage product with improved nutritional quality. Further, consumer acceptability of the sorghum Mahewu blends was determined including shelf stability over 4 weeks at 4°C. Fermentability results showed that sorghum BGN Mahewu blends had a rapid reduction in pH and significantly (p < 0.05) lower final pH (4.3) after 24 hr compared to the control (pH 5.1) (100% Sorghum Mahewu). With total titratable acidity (TTA), sorghum–BGN Mahewu blends had significantly higher final TTA (0.7%) than control Mahewu (0.4%). Sorghum–BGN Mahewu blends had higher protein and crude fibre contents (up to 7.7% and 7.9%, respectively) than control (6.1% and 5.7%, respectively). In general, sorghum Mahewu supplemented with BGN did not show a substantial increase in mineral and individual amino acid contents after fermentation compared to the control, possibly due to an increase in tannin content with BGN supplementation. Fermentation significantly (p < 0.05) reduced phytate content by more than 90% in sorghum Mahewu supplemented with BGN when compared to the control (28% reduction). Importantly, BGN supplementation improved the level of some essential amino acids such as threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, leucine, histidine, and lysine...M.Sc. (Food Technology
An in-vitro investigation of the biological activity of Ruthenium (II) complexes as potential anti-cancer agents
Get PDFAbstract: Background: Cancer is a group of diseases involving changes in the cell's genome. Some cancers are inherent, while some develop from infections such as the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer in women. Despite available treatment and prevention methods, cervical cancer is ranked fourth in both cancer incident and cancer death in women worldwide. Most available treatments are successful in treating and/or reducing cancer growth, however, cervical cancer treatment is associated with several complications such as resistance and adverse cytotoxic side effects. It is therefore crucial to continue the development of improved cancer treatments. As such, the aim of this study was to investigate the potential anti-cancerous activity of a ruthenium-based complex on HeLa cells. In addition, we sought out to gain an insight on the possible mechanism of action. Methods: Metals are known to possess bioactivity and in this study, the bioactivity of a ruthenium complex was investigated for its cytotoxicity against a HeLa cell model, which is representative of cervical cancer. The HeLa cells were cultured and the anti-tumour activity of the complex was measured using alamar blue dye reduction assay. The alamar blue assay was also used to determine the inhibitory concentration of the cell, were 50% of cells were viable (IC50). To confirm cytotoxicity, morphological studies through light microscopy, Mitotracter staining and Hoechst staining were performed. Flow cytometry double staining with propidium iodide and annexin- V was performed to detect the mode of cell death (apoptosis or necrosis) following treatment with various concentrations of the Ru (II) complex. Apoptotic cell death is primarily accompanied by caspase 3/7 activity. Caspase 3/7 activity was therefore measured using the caspase 3/7 activity assay on the HeLa cells. To decipher metabolic reprogramming induced by the ruthenium complex on the Hela cellular metabolome, 1H NMR-based untargeted metabolomics was conducted. NMR data pre-processing was done using TopSpin 3.6.2, imported to AMIX-viewer 3.9.12 and exported to Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) for statistical analysis. Multivariate statistical analysis such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to determine significantly altered metabolites...M.Sc. (Biotechnology
The early ontogeny of infants’ imitation of on screen humans and robots
Get PDFAbstract: Traditionally, infants have learned how to interact with objects in their environment through direct observations of adults and peers. In recent decades these models have been available over different media, and this has introduced non-human agents to infants’ learning environments. Humanoid robots are increasingly portrayed as social agents in on screen, but the degree to which infants are capable of observational learning from screen-based robots is unknown. The current study thus investigated how well 1- to 3-year-olds (N = 230) could imitate on-screen robots relative to on-screen and live humans. Participants exhibited an imitation deficit for robots that varied with age. Furthermore, the well-known video deficit did not replicate as expected, and was weak and transient relative to past research. Together, the findings documented here suggest that infants are learning from media in ways that differ from past generations, but that this new learning is nuanced when novel technologies are involved
On the use of Machine Learning for Soil Condition Monitoring
Get PDFAbstract: Please refer to full text to view abstrac
Positional running capacities and in-game demands of South African university level rugby players
Get PDFAbstract: Rugby is a complex contact sport consisting of varying intensities of locomotion, interspersed with stationary and contact periods. An increasing professionalisation of the sport even at university and school level has engendered a growing need to collect objective data regarding the physical attributes of rugby players. The aim of the study was to assess the positional running capacities and demands of university rugby players. Twenty-nine male rugby players (age: 22.5 ± 1.2 years; body mass: 96.1 ± 13.26 kg; stature: 182.6 ± 7.5 cm) completed a battery of tests, which included: 10 m + 40 m sprint, yo-yo intermittent recovery (Yo-Yo IRT), repeated sprint ability test (RSA), and had their in-game running demands evaluated. Positional differences between forwards and backs were reported (p<0.05) for Yo-Yo IRT: 19.2 ± 2 vs 21.1 ± 2; 10 m sprint: 1.7 ± 0.1s vs 1.6 ± 0.0s; 40 m sprint test: 5.4 ± 0.3s vs 5.1 ± 0.1s; 5 m RST: 738.9 ± 31.1m vs 767.3 ± 20.9m. Additionally, a significant difference in-game distances between forwards and the backs (absolute: 5564.1 ± 842.5m vs 6955.9 ± 780.9m; relative: 54.7 ± 9.0 m.min-1 vs 60.6 ± 8.7m.min-1) were obtained. The assessment of university-level rugby players showed that backline players tend to record higher aerobic capacity, acceleration and sprint values than forwards. Evidence has shown that during matches, backs tend to cover more distance and spend more time in each speed band than forwards. The findings were discussed in the light of their implications for competitive rugby performance
Challenges Implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution : South African Rural Health System
Get PDFAbstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract
Covid-19 and the Return of the State in Africa
Get PDFAbstract: As African countries battled the Covid-19 crisis in 2020, one of the questions that were raised was whether the state was taking a central stage in the affairs of society, especially solutions to major problems. The question was triggered by the fact that there has been a decline in the capacity, role and prestige of the state in Africa for decades. Yet it seems that the responses to Covid-19, following the WHO guidelines, have placed the state at the centre, without dislocating other stakeholders like the private sector and the civil society. This paper uses the evidence from a select number of African countries of different sizes in various regions of the continent to provide an empirical perspective on the role of the state in Covid-19 responses in 2020 to answer the question of whether Covid-19 has occasioned a return of the state, thus reversing the neoliberal designs in favour of a lean and mean state in Africa
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage University of Johannesburg Institutional Repository? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!