Revision of the Afrotropical genus Fainia Zumpt, 1958, with notes on the morphology of Rhiniidae subfamilies (Diptera, Oestroidea)
- Authors: Thomas-Cabianca, Arianna , Martínez-Sánchez, Anabel , Villet, Martin H , Rojo, Santos
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441446 , vital:73889 , 10.3897/zookeys.1033.58539
- Description: The taxonomy and diversity of Fainia Zumpt, 1958, an exclusive Afrotropical genus, had not been reviewed recently. The genus included six nominal species, but the status of several of them was debated. Identification of most Fainia species depends on characters of the male terminalia; females are poorly known and, in several cases, are not adequately diagnosed. We conducted a taxonomic revision of the genus and generated identification tools. Based on the study of type material and specimens available in entomological collections in Africa and Europe, we recognise here three of the six species as valid (F. albitarsis (Macquart, 1846), F. elongata (Bezzi, 1908) and F. inexpectata Zumpt, 1973). We also provide an identification key to both sexes, redescriptions of the species, updated distribution records and high resolution photographs of males’ and females’ habitus and male terminalia. The description of Fainia kagerana Lehrer, 2007a nom. nud. is an invalid nomenclatural act in terms of ICZN Article 13.1. 1. Based on examinations of their holotypes, F. sambura Lehrer, 2008 syn. nov. is proposed as a junior synonym of F. albitarsis; F. kirinyaga Lehrer, 2007b syn. nov. is proposed as a junior synonym of F. inexpectata; and Fainia giriama Lehrer, 2007b is moved from the genus Fainia to the genus Rhinia Robineau-Desvoidy, as Rhinia giriama (Lehrer, 2007b) comb. nov.. We propose two apomorphies that support the status of the subfamily Rhiniinae.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Rural Tourism and Inclusive Development in Port St. Johns - South Africa
- Authors: Acha-Anyi, Paul Nkemngu , Ndolose, Ludwe , Solomon, Khunou Pula
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Rural tourism Community Inclusive development; Sustainable development Article
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7023 , vital:52758 , xlink:href=":https://doi.org/10.46222/ajhtl.19770720.197"
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore ways of achieving an inclusive approach to tourism development in rural communities. Although tourism has generally been recommended as a means of orchestrating development in rural communities, achieving this laudable goal has often been illusive due to the fragmented approach adopted by tourism stakeholders. An exploratory quantitative research approach was adopted by using a structured survey instrument to generate 307 valid responses from community members in Port St. John in the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) of South Africa. Results obtained reveal similarities and some differences based on demographic characteristics with regards to the benefits of rural tourism to the community. Importantly, the study illuminates the fragmented way in which residents perceive tourism benefits, both from a gender perspective and personal benefit versus community dichotomy. The paper discusses policy as well as practical local economic development implications. Keywords: Rural tourism; community; Port St. Johns; inclusive development; sustainable development
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- Date Issued: 2021
Seasonal metabolic adjustments in an avian evolutionary relict restricted to mountain habitat
- Authors: Oswald, Krista N , Lee, Alan T K , Smit, Ben
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/441638 , vital:73903 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102815
- Description: For endotherms, maintaining body temperature during cold winters is energetically costly.Greater increase in winter maximum thermogenic capacity (Msum) has typically been correlated with improved cold tolerance. However, seasonal studies have shown equivocal direction change in basal metabolic rate (BMR) in winter, perhaps explained by latitude or phylogeny. We examined seasonal metabolic responses in the Cape rockjumper (Chaetops frenatus; “rockjumper”), a range-restricted mountain bird. We hypothesized that, given their mountain habitat preference, rockjumpers would be physiologically specialized for cooler air temperatures compared to other subtropical passerines. We measured body condition (using the ratio of Mb/tarsus), BMR, and Msum, in wild-living rockjumpers during winter and summer (n = 12 adults in winter –– 4 females, 8 males; n = 12 adults in summer –– 6 females, 6 males). We found birds had lesser BMR and thermal conductance, and greater Msum and body condition, in winter compared to summer. .
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- Date Issued: 2021
Segmentation of Tuta Absoluta’s Damage on Tomato Plants: A Computer Vision Approach
- Authors: Loyani, Loyani K , Bradshaw, Karen L , Machuze, Dina
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440313 , vital:73765 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2021.1972254"
- Description: Tuta absoluta is a major threat to tomato production, causing losses ranging from 80% to 100% when not properly managed. Early detection of T. absoluta’s effects on tomato plants is important in controlling and preventing severe pest damage on tomatoes. In this study, we propose semantic and instance segmentation models based on U-Net and Mask RCNN, deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to segment the effects of T. absoluta on tomato leaf images at pixel level using field data. The results show that Mask RCNN achieved a mean Average Precision of 85.67%, while the U-Net model achieved an Intersection over Union of 78.60% and Dice coefficient of 82.86%. Both models can precisely generate segmentations indicating the exact spots/areas infested by T. absoluta in tomato leaves. The model will help farmers and extension officers make informed decisions to improve tomato productivity and rescue farmers from annual losses.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Sex, gender and Uvalo/Letswalo centred spirituality
- Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi , Magoqwana, Babalwa , Motsemme, Nthabiseng , Mohoto, Lieketso
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298663 , vital:57725 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2021.1909711"
- Description: In Male Daughters, Female Husbands (1987) Amadiume argues that the female orientation of Nnobi society and its emphasis on female industriousness is ‘derived from goddess Idemili – the ancestral religious deity’ (27). While Christianity dominates the outlook and conservatism of the post-colonial African state, we are seeing a growing public presence of African spiritual practitioners in southern Africa. The interview with Lieketso Gogo Mapitsi Mohoto reflects on her journey of becoming a healer. She uses the concept of ‘uvalo' to argue for deeper connected spiritual awareness within this practice of healing. Using the Nguni concept of uvalo, she refers to the fluid meaning of intuition also known as Umbilini among Xhosa-speaking people, while Sesotho speakers call it Letswalo. This intimate connection with the Divine can sometimes mean a sense of fear for ordinary people, while it promotes a deep sense of knowing for the spiritually conscious. Gogo Mapitsi's connections between spirituality and land, speak to Amadiume’s matrifocal understanding of productivity as linked to the goddess Idemili in Nnobi histories. Gogo Mapitsi reminds us that the multiple health, economic, psychological crises we face today are linked 'to how uvalo works.' She tells us that the 'cultivation of that inner knowing and the cultivation of trust in that knowing' is central to how a Sangoma understands and responds to the needs of their society.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Skills for communicating severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 result to patients and/or relatives
- Authors: Adeniyi, Oladele Vincent , Kayembe, Dominique K
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: COVID-19 Structured model Medical consultation Article
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7236 , vital:53095 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.4102/safp.v63i1.5221"
- Description: Clinicians notify positive results of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 polymerase chain reaction to patients and/or relatives, whilst short message service (SMS) has been adopted as a means of disseminating negative results. Therefore, clinicians should be adequately equipped to provide telephonic consultation whilst delivering a positive test result to patients. The news of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test result often invokes fear of impending death in patients, especially the elderlies and those with comorbidities. In addition, several survivors have reported persistent symptoms and COVID-19-related stigma, which precludes them from immediate re-integration into their workplaces. Consequently, COVID-19 results are perceived as bad news by the members of the public. This article justifies why COVID-19 test results are bad news and also discusses the notification steps to follow when delivering COVID-19 results, whilst also addressing patients’ immediate concerns. The article concludes by highlighting an important safety net for COVID-19 patients and the attending clinician.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Solar Driven Photocatalytic Activity of Porphyrin Sensitized TiO2
- Authors: Otieno, Sebastien , Lanterna, Anabel E , Mack, John , Derese, Solomon , Amuhaya, Edith K , Nyokong, Tebello , Scaiano, Juan C
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190612 , vital:45010 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26113131"
- Description: The absence of a secure long-term sustainable energy supply is recognized as a major worldwide technological challenge. The generation of H2 through photocatalysis is an environmentally friendly alternative that can help solve the energy problem. Thus, the development of semiconductor materials that can absorb solar light is an attractive approach. TiO2 has a wide bandgap that suffers from no activity in the visible spectrum, limiting its use of solar radiation. In this research, the semiconductor absorption profile was extended into the visible region of the solar spectrum by preparing porphyrin-TiO2 (P-TiO2 ) composites of meso-tetra(4-bromophenyl)porphyrin (PP1) and meso-tetra(5-bromo-2-thienyl)porphyrin (PP2) and their In(III), Zn(II) and Ga(III) metal complexes. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were performed on the porphyrins to gain insight into their electron injection capability. The results demonstrate that P-TiO2 systems merit further in-depth study for applications that require efficient photocatalytic H2 generation.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Specialty Grand Challenges in Urban Agriculture: Ecological and Social Approaches to Sustainability Transformations
- Authors: Zimmerer, Karl S , Bell, Martha G , Chirisa, Innocent , Duvall, Chris S , Egerer, Monika , Hung, Po-Yi , Lerner, Amy M , Shackleton, Charlie M , Ward, James David , Yacamán Ochoa, Carolina
- Date: 2021
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/175779 , vital:42623 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.668561
- Description: This synopsis of the Grand Challenges of Urban Agriculture (UA) is framed by the urgent need to understand and strengthen the expanding yet highly diverse roles of UA amid rapid global urbanization, failures of predominant food systems, and crises in systems of physical and mental health. More than half of humanity lives in cities today and by 2030 this is projected to grow to 60.4 percent, ~5 billion people (UN Habitat, 2020). More than 90 percent of urban demographic increase is anticipated to take place in the developing world.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Strategies utilised in translating children’s stories from English into isiXhosa
- Authors: Madolo, Yolisa
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Children Xhosa Grammar, Comparative and general--Ideophone Children, Black, in literature Article
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/7010 , vital:52637 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2021.2010919"
- Description: Translation scholars suggest various strategies for dealing with equivalence and non-equivalence. These popular strategies address non-equivalence, the converse of equivalence, that is commonly found in translation. Nonequivalence is found at word, phrase, sentence, and pragmatic levels. Not a great deal of research has been done in the translation strategies used between English and South African indigenous languages. It is possible that these languages employ some strategies that are not listed under current, popular strategies. These strategies may be necessitated by the linguistic and historical differences between English and African languages. For instance, what is acceptable in question form in English might be more suitable as a statement in African languages, specifically isiXhosa. The strategies to be presented are from an ongoing study of selected children’s stories translated from English into isiXhosa. The aim of the study is to scrutinise some of the strategies used by the translators in their translations. Preliminary results reveal that translators from English into isiXhosa may explicitate or implicitate the translation using various strategies like addition, infusing target language culture, translating source language idiom by another figure of speech or even omitting some words. This may have minimal or significant impact on the transferred message.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Sustainable Human Resource Practices for Organizational Competitiveness Post the Covid-19 Pandemic
- Authors: Asoba, Samson Nambei , Patricia, Nteboheng Mefi
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Personel Management Covid-19 (Disease) Article
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/8118 , vital:61396 , xlink:href="https://www.abacademies.org/articles/Sustainable-human-resource-practices-for-organizational-competitiveness-post-the-covid-19-1528-2686-27-2-480.pdf"
- Description: The study was formulated to tap into the future of HRM given the disruptions arising from the Covid-119 pandemic as well as the progression of the global technological environment to the fourth industrial revolution. The aim of the study was to: the Covid-19 induced HRM practices underpinning future organizational competitiveness. A literature review strategy was adopted to achieve the study objective. The study established seven emerging themes to inform HRM practices for the competitiveness of organizations in future following the Covid-19 disturbances. These themes are: primacy of HRM, increased cyber influences, digitalization, remote HRM, human-machine interface skills, human-organisation strategic links as well as human-technology interface competencies. Based on the study findings, the study recommended HRM departments to move to HR 4.0 through the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies, increased automation, and digitalization as well as strengthen virtualization systems.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Synthesis of a near infrared-actuated phthalocyanine-lipid vesicle system for augmented photodynamic therapy
- Authors: Nwahara, Namdi , Managa, Muthumuni , Stoffels, Mihlali , Britton, Jonathan , Prinsloo, Earl , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/185395 , vital:44383 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2021.116811"
- Description: The efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) is often limited by the poor bio-distributive properties of conventional photosensitizers and the local hypoxic microenvironment that characterises most solid tumours. Herein, a novel in situ oxygenic lipid formulation for photodynamic therapy (PDT) is reported. Such a hybrid was synthesized by adsorbing bimetallic nanozyme, MnO2@PtNPs (NPs = nanoparticles) onto graphene quantum dots (GQDs) – zinc (II) phthalocyanine conjugates, followed by liposomal encapsulation, affording it enhanced water solubility. The MnO2@PtNPs, which are is shown to possess excellent catalase-like properties surpassing that of MnO2 or PtNPs alone, serves to catalyze H2O2 to O2, while the zinc (II) phthalocyanine (1) serves to transform the formed oxygen to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen immediately. We show that by combining each function of the respective building blocks, the as-synthesized 1-GQDs-MnO2@PtNPs-liposomes not only maintains the properties of oxygen supplementation through H2O2 catalysis but also displays cooperative properties for enhanced singlet oxygen production. Consequently, a remarkably improved PDT efficacy was observed for 1-GQDs-MnO2@PtNPs-liposomes in both normoxia and hypoxia. These results demonstrate the potential applicability of such nanozyme constituted 1-GQDs-MnO2@PtNPs-liposomes for achieving tumour treatment in hypoxic conditions by PDT.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Synthesis, theoretical calculations and laser flash photolysis studies of selected amphiphilic porphyrin derivatives used as biofilm photodegradative materials
- Authors: Openda, Yolande I , Ngoy, Bokolombe P , Muva, Jules T , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190589 , vital:45008 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D1NJ02651H"
- Description: Photodynamic antimicrobial activities of gallium and indium porphyrins as well as their quaternized derivatives have been investigated against S. aureus and E. coli biofilms, as well as on their planktonic (free floating) cells using a light emitting diode lamp at 415 nm. The studied photosensitizers show considerable ability to generate singlet oxygen and the quaternized molecules 2a and 3a are potential photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) agents with log10 colony forming units >9 for E. coli and S. aureus planktonic cells. The quaternized derivatives are found to have higher ability to significantly suppress the biofilms of both S. aureus and E. coli in vitro. Therefore, this demonstrates that they are potentially suitable photosensitive agents for PACT use. The TD-B3LYP/LanL2DZ calculations were performed to evaluate the singlet excitation energies of quaternized and non-quaternized porphyrins in vacuo. Our study shows excellent agreement between time-dependent density-functional theory (TD-DFT) excited energies and experimental S1 > S0 excitation energies. The small deviation observed between the calculated and experimental spectra arises from the solvent effect. The excitation energies observed in these UV-visible spectra mostly originated from electron promotion between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) for the less intense band and the HOMO−1 for the most intense band of the ground states to the lower unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the excited states.
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- Date Issued: 2021
T Kondo (Ed) law and investment in Africa: the fovernance of foreign direct investment in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Zongwe, Dunia P
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Investments, Foreign -- Africa, Sub-Saharan , Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Corporate governance
- Language: English
- Type: text , review , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6387 , vital:45443 , xlink:href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2077-4907/2021/ldd.v25.16 "
- Description: Tinashe Kondo’s book, Law and investment in Africa, narrates the efforts of a country to regain the trust [and the love] of foreign investors after several decades of argument and hostility. Encapsulated in the “Zimbabwe is open for business” slogan, these efforts show “how a country can move to regain credibility and commit to global rules despite its recent history”. This review of Kondo’s book concerns the manner in which readers can take advantage of this immensely useful publication. Particularly, this review looks into the book in order to advise law academics on possible strategies to integrate the book into their curricula in Zimbabwe and elsewhere on the continent.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Tapping the role of microbial biosurfactants in pesticide remediation: an eco-friendly approach for environmental sustainability
- Authors: Raj, Aman , Kumar, Ashwani , Dames, Joanna F
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440430 , vital:73782 , https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.791723
- Description: Pesticides are used indiscriminately all over the world to protect crops from pests and pathogens. If they are used in excess, they contaminate the soil and water bodies and negatively affect human health and the environment. However, bioremediation is the most viable option to deal with these pollutants, but it has certain limitations. Therefore, harnessing the role of microbial biosurfactants in pesticide remediation is a promising approach. Biosurfactants are the amphiphilic compounds that can help to increase the bioavailability of pesticides, and speeds up the bioremediation process. Biosurfactants lower the surface area and interfacial tension of immiscible fluids and boost the solubility and sorption of hydrophobic pesticide contaminants. They have the property of biodegradability, low toxicity, high selectivity, and broad action spectrum under extreme pH, temperature, and salinity conditions, as well as a low critical micelle concentration (CMC). All these factors can augment the process of pesticide remediation. Application of metagenomic and in-silico tools would help by rapidly characterizing pesticide degrading microorganisms at a taxonomic and functional level. A comprehensive review of the literature shows that the role of biosurfactants in the biological remediation of pesticides has received limited attention. Therefore, this article is intended to provide a detailed overview of the role of various biosurfactants in improving pesticide remediation as well as different methods used for the detection of microbial biosurfactants. Additionally, this article covers the role of advanced metagenomics tools in characterizing the biosurfactant producing pesticide degrading microbes from different environments.
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- Date Issued: 2021
Terminaliamide, a new ceramide and other phytoconstituents from the roots of Terminalia mantaly H. Perrier and their biological activities
- Authors: Mbosso, Emmanuel , Siwe-Noundou, Xavier , Fannang, Simon , Song, Achille M , Assob, Jules C N , Hoppe, Heinrich , Krause, Rui W M
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191779 , vital:45163 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2019.1647425"
- Description: Terminaliamide (1), a new ceramide was isolated from the roots of Terminalia mantaly H. Perrier (Combretaceae) along with 4 known compounds (2–5). The structures of the compounds were elucidated using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy analysis and mass spectrometry. Compound 1 exhibited moderated antibacterial activity towards Staphylococcus aureus with MIC value of 62.5 μg/mL. The crude MeOH extract (TMr) highly reduced Plasmodium falciparum growth with an IC50 value of 10.11 μg/mL, while hexane fraction (F1) highly reduced Trypanosoma brucei brucei growth with an IC50 value of 5.60 µg/mL. All tested samples presented little or no in vitro cytotoxicity on HeLa cell line. The present work confirms that T. mantaly is medicinally important and may be used effectively as an antimicrobial, an antiplasmodial and an antitrypanosomial with promising therapeutic index.
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- Date Issued: 2021
The antibacterial and antifungal properties of neutral, octacationic and hexadecacationic Zn phthalocyanines when conjugated to silver nanoparticles
- Authors: Mapukata, Sibusisiwe , Sen, Pinar , Osifeko, Olawale L , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/185667 , vital:44408 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdpdt.2021.102361"
- Description: The syntheses and characterization of novel octacationic and hexadecacationic Pcs is reported. With the aim of enhancing singlet oxygen generation efficiencies and hence antimicrobial activities, these Pcs (including their neutral counterpart) are conjugated to Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs). The obtained results show that the conjugate composed of the neutral Pc has a higher loading of Pcs as well as a greater singlet oxygen quantum yield enhancement (in the presence of AgNPs) in DMSO. The antimicrobial efficiencies of the Pcs and their conjugates were evaluated and compared on S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans. The cationic Pcs possess better activity than the neutral Pc against all the microorganisms with the hexadecacationic Pc being the best. This work therefore demonstrates that increase in the number of cationic charges on the reported Pcs results in enhanced antimicrobial activities, which is maintained even when conjugated to Ag nanoparticles. The high activity and lack of selectivity of the cationic Pcs when conjugated to Ag NPs against different microorganisms make them good candidates for real life antimicrobial treatments.
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- Date Issued: 2021
The antibody assisted detection of HER2 on a cobalt porphyrin binuclear framework and gold functionalized graphene quantum dots modified electrode
- Authors: Centane, Sixole , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/185931 , vital:44449 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelechem.2020.114908"
- Description: In this work a novel simple, inexpensive and highly sensitive approach for the antibody assisted detection of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is presented. Three sensors using carboxylic group containing gold functionalized graphene quantum dots (SNGQDs@AuNPs), CoP-BNF (cobalt porphyrin binuclear framework) and CoP-BNF/SNGQDs@AuNPs (the conjugate) nanocomposites on a GCE were designed. The sensors were fabricated by covalent immobilization of the antibody to the GCE via an amide bond. The modified GCE was characterized using cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The performance of the sensors was assessed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The selective recognition of the antibody towards HER2 on the electrode led to an increase of the electron transfer resistance (Rct). The different modified electrodes had low detection limit values: 0.0327 ng/mL, 0.0454 ng/mL and 0.1072 ng/mL towards the detection of HER2. The sensors showed good stability and reproducibility. The sensors showed promising potential in clinical applicability, in the detection of HER2 protein in human serum.
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- Date Issued: 2021
The cicada genus Tugelana Distant, 1912 (Hemiptera, Cicadidae): phylogenetic position and conservation status
- Authors: Villet, Martin H , Edwards, Shelley
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440628 , vital:73798 , https://africaninvertebrates.pensoft.net/article/66891/
- Description: The cicada genus Tugelana Distant, 1912 is monotypic and endemic to south-eastern Africa. Material was not available for a recent molecular phylogeny of its tribe, so its precise phylogenetic placement is unestablished. Consequently, a 627 bp sequence of the cytochrome oxidase gene was obtained and its candidate relatives identified as several species of Platypleura Amyot and Audinet-Serville, 1843 using the BOLD Identification System and NCBI Genbank’s BLAST. Bayesian inference analyses indicated that the type species, the Maputaland Orangewing Cicada Tugelana butleri Distant, 1912, is closely related to the Dune Koko Orangewing Cicada Platypleura zuluensis Villet, 1989, which has a geographical distribution that is parapatric with T. butleri and which has aberrant genitalia for a member of Platypleura. This pair of species is placed fairly deep within the African clade of Platypleura. We therefore formally recognized Platypleura Amyot and Audinet-Serville, 1843 as a senior synonym of Tugelana Distant, 1912, syn. nov., and assign T. butleri Distant, 1912 to Platypleura as Platypleura butleri (Distant 1912), comb. nov. The species occurs on the wooded grasslands of the Maputaland coastal plateau east of Lebombo Mountains and south of Maputo Bay. Its Extent of Occurrence is about 6360 km2, which would qualify it as Vulnerable under the IUCN’s classification criteria for conservation status.
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- Date Issued: 2021
The complex relationship between asset wealth, adaptation, and diversification in tropical fisheries
- Authors: Taylor, Sarah F , Aswani, Shankar , Jiddawi, Narriman , Coupland, Jack , James, Phillip , Kelly, Stephen , Kizenga, Hellen , Roberts, Michael , Popova, Ekaterina
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/403475 , vital:69964 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105808"
- Description: Marine small-scale fisheries are complex social and ecological systems that are currently pressurised by climate change, increasing demand for food, and expectation to sustain livelihoods. Species diversification and occupational diversification are often offered as adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of these fisheries to natural and economic shocks. However, little is known about the nature of species diversification within marine tropical fisheries. Based on 293 interviews with artisanal fishers from six coastal communities located at the isles of Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, and Mainland Tanga in Tanzania - we assess if fishers with the highest level of species diversification are the most financially secure and able to adapt to changes in the fishing industry. By creating an Asset Wealth Index (AWI) based on a Multiple Correspondence Approach (MCA), we investigate the relative levels of adaptive capacity and fishery connectivity within the different regional wealth quartiles. We find that less wealthy fishers target fewer species, making them less able to absorb changes in management measures focused on species, area, and closures. Likewise, fishers with higher wealth scores and higher adaptive capacity are able to better absorb the short-term losses of fisheries closures when compared to those with lower wealth and adaptive scores reliant on higher levels of fishery connectivity.
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- Date Issued: 2021
The cultural significance of plant-fiber crafts in Southern Africa: a comparative study of Eswatini, Malawi, and Zimbabwe
- Authors: Pullanikkatil, Deepa , Thondhlana, Gladman , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/399860 , vital:69564 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2021.1998797"
- Description: Traditional handicrafts made from various plant materials are produced by most cultures around the world. Many originated through symbolic and utilitarian needs that became ritualized through time, thereby gradually attaining greater value as cultural items or symbols rather than solely functional ones. Here we report on a survey of 343 crafters across Eswatini, Malawi, and Zimbabwe in southern Africa regarding the cultural uses and significance of the items they make from wild plant fibers and sell to local communities or tourists. The plant materials used were largely dictated by tradition and local availability and were crafted into a diverse range of products including baskets, mats, brooms, storage containers, hats, fish traps, ornaments, and furniture. Many products had uses and cultural significance at major ceremonies or rituals, such as weddings, funerals, initiation, and divination. The preparation and design of the different crafts were influenced by tradition as well as market demand as indicated by tourist fashions and advice provided by government or non-government agencies to boost income generation from crafts. Although the crafting of cultural objects is increasingly commercialized and subject to the tastes and fashions of tourist markets in the region, the traditional and cultural significance of such artifacts remains widely recognized and valued.
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- Date Issued: 2021