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Exploring factors influencing academic literacy – A data-driven perspective
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Humanities, Unit for Languages and Literature In The SA Context-- Potchefstroom CampusBackground: Data science and machine learning have shown their usefulness in business and are gaining prevalence in the educational sector. In illustrating the potential of educational data mining (EDM) and learning analytics (LA), this article illustrates how such methods can be applied to the South African higher education institution (HEI) environment to enhance the teaching and learning of academic literacy modules.
Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine if data science and machine learning methods can be effectively applied to the context of academic literacy teaching and learning and provide stakeholders with valuable decision support.
Method: The method applied in this study is a variation of the knowledge discovery and data mining process specifically adapted for discovery in the educational environment.
Results: This study illustrates that utilising educational data can support the educational environment by measuring pedagogical support, examining the learning process, supporting strategic decision-making, and predicting student performance.
Conclusion: Educators can improve module offerings and students’ academic acculturation by applying EDM and LA to data collected from academic literacy modules.
Contribution: This manuscript contributes to the field of EDM and LA by illustrating that methods from these research fields can be applied to the South African educational context and produce valuable insights using local data, providing practical proof of its feasibility and usefulness. This is aligned with the scope of this journal as it pertains to innovations in information management and competitive intelligence
The impact of telecommunications development on the Trade-GDP nexus in South Africa: Application of the ARDL methodology
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Economics, North--West University, Potchefstroom CampusThis study investigated the relationship between telecommunications development, trade openness and economic growth in South Africa. It determined explicitly if telecommunications development and trade openness directly impact economic growth or whether telecommunications strengthen or weaken the link between trade openness and economic growth using the ARDL bounds test methodology. The findings reveal that both telecommunications developmentindicators and trade openness significantly and positively impact South Africa’s GDP in the short and long terms. The study also found that control variables like internet usage and gross fixed capital formation significantly and positively influence GDP. Conversely, inflation was found to consistently affect GDP negatively and significantly. The findings from the ARDL cointegration analysis affirm a long-run economic relationship between the independent variables and GDP. The study also established that telecommunications development slightly distorts trade in the foreign trade-GDP nexus in South Africa. Despite this, the negative interaction effect is not substantial enough toovershadow the positive impact of trade openness on economic growth. From a policy perspective, the study recommends that South African policymakers prioritise enhancing local goods’ competitiveness in global markets and reducing trade barriers. It also advocates for improving the accessibility and affordability of telecommunications technologies to foster economic developmen
A duoethnography about musicking at an older adult care home during COVID-19
Get PDFJournal Article, North-West UniversityLoneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a global problem. Older adults, who are considered high-risk individuals, have been particularly impacted and have experienced increased isolation and loneliness. Musicians also experienced loneliness during the lockdown period. Therefore, the purpose of this duoethnography is to explore the culturally situated meanings two research participants ascribe to musicking at an older adult care home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research participants are two community musicians who have facilitated weekly musicking sessions at an older adult care home for the past five years. During the hard lockdown, we serenaded the older adults in the street in front of the care home. Our data collection was stimulated by photos, session plans, song choices, diary reflections, and individual accounts. To explore our dialogical understanding, we used storytelling and Pinar’s (1975) four step method of currere, namely regressive, progressive, synthesis and analysis. The findings indicated that musicking during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to share and express compassion and care towards the older adult residents and each other. We, therefore, argue that musicking, with the necessary hygienic precautions, should be encouraged as a form of reciprocal care during a global pandemic
Adsorption and Recombination of H+ and H3O+ on Graphene-Supported Pt1, Pt13, and Pt14 Nanoclusters: A First Principles Study
No full textFaculty of Engineering, North-West University,
Potchefstroom 2531, South AfricaPlatinum electrocatalysts on graphene-like supports have recently attracted research interest
as components of electrochemical devices based on hydrogen oxidation reactions in acid media due to
their improved electrochemical properties, high stability, and conductivity. Within the current work,
hydrogen adsorption and the recombination effects of a proton and hydroxonium on a graphenebased electrocatalyst were investigated using density functional theory. The interaction between ions
and the platinum surface was simulated for various configurations, including different initial ion
distances and angles relative to the surface of the graphene sheet as well as different adsorptions on
various Pt atoms (vertices or faces for Pt13 and Pt14 nanoclusters). Then, the geometry optimization
was performed. Changes in the density of states during the reactions were studied to analyze the
occurrences and alterations of the interactions. A comparative analysis of the obtained adsorption
energies of H+ and H3O+ with experimental data was conducted. The energy was calculated to be
less in absolute value, and intermediates were more stable in adsorption models with the H–Pt–Gr
angle of 90◦
than in models with the angle of 180◦
. Strong chemical bonding for models with H–Pt
distances less than 2 Å was observed from the DO
Enhancing dietary diversity and food security through the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in Nigeria: A micro level evidence
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science (Agricultural Economics and Extension) -- North-West University, Mahikeng CampusThe paranoid belief that climate change will gradually reduce the ability of the world to meet the demand for food serves as the rationale for Nigerian smallholder farmers’ advocacy of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) techniques. The study investigates the effects of CSA practice on the food security status of rural farming households in Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed in selecting 480 rural farming households across three selected states from Southwest, Nigeria. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Obtained results showed that 59.79% of the respondents were food insecure while severe and depth of food insecure among the farming households were 0.0711 and 0.1913 respectively. The result of the household dietary diversity score revealed the diverse consumption-ability of the respondents and the contributions of CSA practice in their farming system. This implies that households engaged in climate-smart farming are more likely to achieve higher levels of food consumption score, dietary diver sity, and food security. The probit regression revealed that the food security status among rural farming households was significantly influenced by household heads’ gender, farm size, and contact with extension agents as well as adopted CSA practices such as crop di-versification, agroforestry, and use of Fadama land for agricultural activities. This research concludes that CSA lowered the probability of food insecurity among rural farming households in Nigeria. Accordingly, the study suggests that the government and the key players
should encourage the use of CSA practices in order to ensure agricultural sustainability and food security in agrarian communities by reducing the impact of climate change.Climate Actio
Microplastics in coral from three Mascarene Islands, Western Indian Ocean
No full textArticle, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management)--Northwest University, Potchefstroom CampusLittle is known about microplastics (MPs) in corals from the Indian Ocean. We compared MP concentrations, morphotypes, size, colours, and polymer compositions in six coral genera from three remote Mascarene islands (Rodrigues, St. Brandon’s Atoll, and Agalega) of the Republic of Mauritius, on a 1200 km transect located in the South Equatorial Current (SEC). The mean MP concentration was 0.78 n/g (53 % fibres) with no significant differences between islands. Polymers were polypropylene (78 %) and polyethylene (18 %). We conclude that the SEC’s MP concentrations and compositions have homogenized over thousands of kilometres across the Indian Ocean. We discuss the lack of hazardous polyurethane MPs in coral samples given obvious sources on St Brandon. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report on MPs in coral from the Western Indian Ocean and the Mascarene Islands providing a baseline for further research, monitoring, mitigation, and policy development
Neural Network-Based Vehicular Channel Estimation Performance: Effect of Noise in the Training Set
No full textFaculty of Engineering, North-West University, South AfricaVehicular communication systems face significant challenges due to high mobility and rapidly
changing environments, which affect the channel over which the signals travel. To address these
challenges, neural network (NN)-based channel estimation methods have been suggested. These
methods are primarily trained on high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with the assumption that training a
NN in less noisy conditions can result in good generalisation. This study examines the effectiveness
of training NN-based channel estimators on mixed SNR datasets compared to training solely on
high SNR datasets, as seen in several related works. Estimators evaluated in this work include an
architecture that uses convolutional layers and self-attention mechanisms; a method that employs
temporal convolutional networks and data pilot-aided estimation; two methods that combine classical
methods with multilayer perceptrons; and the current state-of-the-art model that combines Long-ShortTerm Memory networks with data pilot-aided and temporal averaging methods as post processing.
Our results indicate that using only high SNR data for training is not always optimal, and the SNR
range in the training dataset should be treated as a hyperparameter that can be adjusted for better
performance. This is illustrated by the better performance of some models in low SNR conditions
when trained on the mixed SNR dataset, as opposed to when trained exclusively on high SNR data
The oceanic pleuston community as a potentially crucial life-cycle pathway for pelagic fish-infecting parasitic worms
No full textJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science, North--West University-PotchefstroomPleustonic organisms form an important part of pelagic ecosystems by contributing to pelagic trophic chains and supporting connectivity between oceanic habitats. This study systematically analysed the trematode community harboured by pleustonic molluscs and cnidarians from offshore Queensland, Australia. Four mollusc and three cnidarian species were collected from beaches of North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Two mollusc species and all three cnidarians harboured large numbers of hemiuroid metacercariae (Trematoda: Hemiuroidea). Eight taxa from four hemiuroid families (Accacoeliidae, Didymozoidae, Hemiuridae and Sclerodistomidae) were distinguished via molecular sequencing. Four of those taxa were identified to species. All trematode taxa except one didymozoid were shared by two or more host species; five species occurred in both gastropods and cnidarians. It is hypothesised that the life-cycles of these hemiuroids are highly plastic, involving multiple opportunistic pathways of metacercarial transmission to the definitive hosts. Transmission and the use of pleuston by hemiuroids likely varies with sea surface use and ontogenetic trophic shifts of apex predators. The small number of trematode species found in pleuston is consistent with significant ecological specificity, and the inference that other pelagic trematodes use alternative pathways of transmission that do not involve pleustonic organisms. Such pathways may involve i) pelagic hosts exclusively; ii) benthic or demersal hosts exclusively, consumed by apex predators during their dives; or iii) both benthic and pelagic hosts in transmission chains dependent on vertical migrations of prey. The influence of the connectivity of open-ocean ecosystems on parasite transmission is identified as an area in critical need of research. 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Australian Society for Parasitology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Compton-Induced -ray Cascade Emissions from Blazar-type Galaxies
Get PDFConference Contribution, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Centre for Space Research (CSR)-- Potchefstroom CampusBlazars are powerful sources of high-energy (HE, ≳ 100 MeV) to very high-energy (VHE, ≳ 100 GeV) -ray emissions. According to the unified scheme for radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) radio galaxies are the parent class of the blazar population. Naturally one would expect radio galaxies, as the parent population of blazars, to be intrinsic HE and possibly VHE -ray emitters. This was confirmed by recent VERITAS, MAGIC and HESS detections. Previous works found that secondary electron/positron pairs can become efficiently isotropized by mild magnetic fields in AGN environments, leading to off-axis HE–VHE -ray cascades. We extend this work by including a more realistic Shakura-Sunyaev (SS) accretion disk model, in addition to the isotropic external radiation fields considered in previous works. We present the preliminary results of the interplay between two external radiation fields, namely the broad-line region and UV emission from the SS accretion disk, and then discuss future developments for this work
Exploring the role of endophytic fungi in the amelioration of drought stress in plants
Get PDFJournal Article, Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho,Drought is one of the environmental stresses that threaten food availability. It results in decreased crop yields and developments and diminishes overall plant health. Chemical solutions for alleviating drought stress may be harmful to the environment. Using an alternative, microorganisms help counter the effects of drought stress. Endophytes have a mutualistic relationship with the host as they provide protection and get nutrients. Fungal endophytes assist plants in countering the damaging results of drought stress by producing phytohormones and growth-promoting compounds that promote root and shoot growth and enhance crop productivity. Inoculating maize plants with endophytic fungi like Fusarium oxysporum and Penicillium sp. have a higher chance of surviving drought stress. These organisms can increase root length, allowing moisture to reach deeper into the soil. This review explores endophytic fungi's roles in alleviating drought stress’s consequences on plants. More investigations should be carried out on the favourable effects
of fungal endophytes in the mitigation of drought stress through pot and field inoculation