The 4IR and teacher education in South Africa:

The 4IR has become an overarching framework within which education systems, including teacher education, are operating. Contingent upon the ideology of neo-liberalism, the 4IR seeks to transform societies in ways which respond to the relentless developments in technology, the Internet and digital capacities which, by design and intent, are purposed at increasing both productivity and the associated quality while at the same time reducing human intervention in the same processes. In teacher education, how we teach and train student teachers will be substantially influenced by the imperatives of the 4IR. There are multiple unresolved questions as the 4IR takes centre stage. For example, what will it mean for teaching and learning in schools that have severe technological and digital deficits; for teachers and students who have minimal technological literacies; for delivering high-quality teaching and learning; for transforming both the content and pedagogies of teacher education and, above all, for delivering socially just educational experiences for all our learners, regardless of class, race, and privilege. The discourse of the 4IR is contemporary and requires multiple perspectives to explore what it means in different contexts and settings, the understandings it engenders in people, what it implies across a wide range of educational decision-making levels, and that its fundamental assumptions cohere with national and societal assumptions about equality, equity and social justice. Multiple methodological approaches were utilised in the interrogation of the idea of the 4IR in teacher education in South Africa, including theoretical, empirical, and small-scale case studies, amongst others. The data these approaches provide are equally valued based on the purposes for which they have been derived

The 4IR and teacher education in South Africa:

The 4IR has become an overarching framework within which education systems, including teacher education, are operating. Contingent upon the ideology of neo-liberalism, the 4IR seeks to transform societies in ways which respond to the relentless developments in technology, the Internet and digital capacities which, by design and intent, are purposed at increasing both productivity and the associated quality while at the same time reducing human intervention in the same processes. In teacher education, how we teach and train student teachers will be substantially influenced by the imperatives of the 4IR. There are multiple unresolved questions as the 4IR takes centre stage. For example, what will it mean for teaching and learning in schools that have severe technological and digital deficits; for teachers and students who have minimal technological literacies; for delivering high-quality teaching and learning; for transforming both the content and pedagogies of teacher education and, above all, for delivering socially just educational experiences for all our learners, regardless of class, race, and privilege. The discourse of the 4IR is contemporary and requires multiple perspectives to explore what it means in different contexts and settings, the understandings it engenders in people, what it implies across a wide range of educational decision-making levels, and that its fundamental assumptions cohere with national and societal assumptions about equality, equity and social justice. Multiple methodological approaches were utilised in the interrogation of the idea of the 4IR in teacher education in South Africa, including theoretical, empirical, and small-scale case studies, amongst others. The data these approaches provide are equally valued based on the purposes for which they have been derived

Thermomagnetic history effects in SmMn2_2Ge2_2

The intermetallic compound SmMn$_2$Ge$_2$, displaying multiple magnetic phase transitions, is being investigated in detail for its magnetization behavior near the 145 K first order ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occuring on cooling, in particular for thermomagnetic history effects in the magnetization data. The most unusual finding is that the thermomagnetic irreversibility, [= M$^{FCW}$(T)-M$^{ZFC}$(T)] at 135 K is higher in intermediate magnetic field strengths. By studying the response of the sample (i.e., thermomagnetic irreversibility and thermal hysteresis) to different histories of application of magnetic field and temperature, we demonstrate how the supercooling and superheating of the metastable magnetic phases across the first order transition at 145 K contribute to overall thermomagnetic irreversibility.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Evaluation of Nutritional, Phytochemical, and Mineral Composition of Selected Medicinal Plants for Therapeutic Uses from Cold Desert of Western Himalaya

The aim of this study was to determine the elemental and nutritive values of leaf parts of 10 selected wild medicinal plants, Acer pictum, Acer caecium, Betula utilis, Oxalis corniculata, Euphorbia pilosa, Heracleum lanatum, Urtica dioica, Berberis lycium, Berberis asiaticaand, and Quercus ilex, collected from the high hills of the Chitkul range in district Kinnaur, Western Himalaya. The nutritional characteristics of medicinal plant species were analyzed by using muffle furnace and micro-Kjeldahl methods, and the mineral content in plants was analyzed through atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest percentage of used value was reported in Betula utilis (0.42) and the lowest in Quercus ilex (0.17). In this study, it was found that new generations are not much interested in traditional knowledge of ethnomedicinal plants due to modernization in society. Therefore, there is an urgent need to document ethnomedicinal plants along with their phytochemical and minerals analysis in study sites. It was found that rural people in western Himalaya are dependent on wild medicinal plants, and certain steps must be taken to conserve these plants from extinction in the cold desert of Himalayan region. They are an alternative source of medicine because they contain saponin, alkaloid, and flavonoid etc. as well as minerals. The leaves used for analysis possesses good mineral content, such as Na, N, K, P, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Ca, Mg, and S. Hence, in the current study it was observed that medicinal plants are not only used for therapeutic purposes, but they can also be used as nutritional supplements

Ethnomedicinal Plants Used in the Health Care System: Survey of the Mid Hills of Solan District, Himachal Pradesh, India

The study was performed in the mid hills of the Dharampur region in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, India. At the study site, a total of 115 medicinal plants were documented (38 trees, 37 herbs, 34 shrubs, 5 climbers, 1 fern, and 1 grass). In the study region, extensive field surveys were performed between March 2020 and August 2021. Indigenous knowledge of wild medicinal plants was collected through questionnaires, discussions, and personal interviews during field trips. Plants with their correct nomenclature were arranged by botanical name, family, common name, habitat, parts used, routes used, and diseases treated. In the present study, the predominant family was Rosaceae, which represented the maximum number of plant species, 10, followed by Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, which represented 8 plant species. The rural inhabitants of the Dharampur region in the Solan district have been using local plants for primary health care and the treatment of various diseases for a longer time. However, information related to the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants was not documented. The rural inhabitants of the Dharampur region reported that the new generation is not so interested in traditional knowledge of medicinal plants due to modernization in society, so there is an urgent need to document ethnomedicinal plants before such knowledge becomes inaccessible and extinct

Multilocational Evaluation of Pigeonpea for Broad-Based Resistance to Fusarium Wilt in India

Nine-hundred and fifty-nine plgeonpea germplasm and breeding lines were evaluated for resistance to wilt caused by Fusarium udum Butler at 12 locations in India over a period of 7 years between 1984 and 1990. ICP 8863,9174,12745, ICPL333,8363,88047, BWR 370, DPPA 85-2,85-3,85-8,85–13,85–14 and Bandapalera were resistant or moderately resistant at 7 to 10 out of 12 locations for 3 to 5 years with an average wilt incidence of less than 15%

Multi-location evaluation of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) for broad-based resistance to sterility-mosaic disease in India

A total of 141 germplasm accessions and 725 breeding lines of pigeon pea were evaluated for resistance to pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus at 13 field locations in India from 1983-84 to 1989-90. Some 50 seeds per test entry were sown at each location and the trials were artificially inoculated by either leaf-stapling (in which 10-15-day-old seedlings were stapled with diseased leaves harbouring mites) or the infector-hedge method (with the susceptible variety NP(WR)15 sown on the border of the nursery 4-6 months in advance of the normal sowing date). The breeding lines included in the evaluation were newly bred, high-yielding lines entered into the Pigeon Pea Co-ordinated trials by ICRISAT and the All-India Co-ordinated Pulses Improvement Project. ICP7182 was used as the susceptible control line. Information is presented on lines and accessions showing broad-based resistance (percentage infection at maturity) during the trial period at each location. Line ICP7035 from Madhyha Pradesh, which contains DSLR55 in its pedigree, was resistant at 12 locations and some 18 lines were resistant at 10 locations

Strontium to calcium (Sr/Ca) ratio in otolith as a tool for stock discrimination of oilsardine and mackerel

Otoliths are found in the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear of teleost fish and serve mainly in balancing the organism. They are composed of calcium carbonate and are deposited rhythmically as aragonite crystals within a protein matrix. They have long been used in fish aging studies. Recently, changes in the strontium (Sr): calcium (Ca) ratios in otoliths have received increasing attention, as these provide a method of reconstructing environmental history of the fish. Strontium is a calcium analogue sharing a similar crystal ionic radius and can substitute for Ca in the aragonite lattice of otoliths

Micropropagation and conservation of selected endangered anticancer medicinal plants from the Western Ghats of India

Globally, cancer is a constant battle which severely affects the human population. The major limitations of the anticancer drugs are the deleterious side effects on the quality of life. Plants play a vital role in curing many diseases with minimal or no side effects. Phytocompounds derived from various medicinal plants serve as the best source of drugs to treat cancer. The global demand for phytomedicines is mostly reached by the medicinal herbs from the tropical nations of the world even though many plant species are threatened with extinction. India is one of the mega diverse countries of the world due to its ecological habitats, latitudinal variation, and diverse climatic range. Western Ghats of India is one of the most important depositories of endemic herbs. It is found along the stretch of south western part of India and constitutes rain forest with more than 4000 diverse medicinal plant species. In recent times, many of these therapeutically valued herbs have become endangered and are being included under the red-listed plant category in this region. Due to a sharp rise in the demand for plant-based products, this rich collection is diminishing at an alarming rate that eventually triggered dangerous to biodiversity. Thus, conservation of the endangered medicinal plants has become a matter of importance. The conservation by using only in situ approaches may not be sufficient enough to safeguard such a huge bio-resource of endangered medicinal plants. Hence, the use of biotechnological methods would be vital to complement the ex vitro protection programs and help to reestablish endangered plant species. In this backdrop, the key tools of biotechnology that could assist plant conservation were developed in terms of in vitro regeneration, seed banking, DNA storage, pollen storage, germplasm storage, gene bank (field gene banking), tissue bank, and cryopreservation. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to critically review major endangered medicinal plants that possess anticancer compounds and their conservation aspects by integrating various biotechnological tool