USING GOOGLE SITES AS AN INNOVATIVE LEARNING TOOL AT UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Using engaging and entertaining learning tools and techniques inside and outside the classroom has become imperative in order to ensure, amongst others, subject-matter retention for the scholars of today. These technologies are not restricted to enriching course content alone and can also stimulate and encourage students to participate in collaborative learning processes. In this paper, the use of Google Sites© is described to encourage collaborative learning.. The research findings are supported with outcomes from student questionnaires. The research found that integrating Google Sites© into undergraduate education will be beneficial for improving Information Systems knowledge and competence

Developing creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills in a financial services organisation

Orientation: An important evaluation function is to determine whether creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills can be developed through training and to assess whether these skills, on their own, are sufficient to ignite innovation in organisations. Research purpose: The evaluation question that the present study aimed to address is whether employees in a corporate context, such as a financial services organisation, can develop creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills through an intervention such as a workshop. Motivation for the study: A financial services organisation commissioned the primary author of this article to design a workshop with the intent to develop the creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of their employees in order to ignite innovation and competitiveness. Research design, approach and method: This study employed mainly qualitative research. Utilisation-focused evaluation (UFE) was employed and findings from the literature review, questionnaires, pen-and-paper tests and interviews were used. The unit of analysis was a niche business unit in a South African financial services organisation. Main findings: From this study’s point of view, the most critical finding related to the confirmation that individuals can acquire creative and innovative thinking and problemsolving skills. The acquisition of these skills, however, is not sufficient on its own to establish a culture supportive of creativity and sustainable innovation. Practical/managerial implications: The development of creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills of employees is not sufficient on its own to support sustainable innovation. Managers should consciously establish determinants on an organisational as well as an individual level to create an environment supportive of sustainable innovation. Contribution/value-add: The present study indicated how a workshop can assist individuals to develop creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. The acquisition of these skills is not sufficient on its own to ignite sustainable innovation

Evidence for an ancient whole genome duplication in the cycad lineage

Contrary to the many whole genome duplication events recorded for angiosperms (flowering plants), whole genome duplications in gymnosperms (non-flowering seed plants) seem to be much rarer. Although ancient whole genome duplications have been reported for most gymnosperm lineages as well, some are still contested and need to be confirmed. For instance, data for ginkgo, but particularly cycads have remained inconclusive so far, likely due to the quality of the data available and flaws in the analysis. We extracted and sequenced RNA from both the cycad Encephalartos natalensis and Ginkgo biloba. This was followed by transcriptome assembly, after which these data were used to build paralog age distributions. Based on these distributions, we identified remnants of an ancient whole genome duplication in both cycads and ginkgo. The most parsimonious explanation would be that this whole genome duplication event was shared between both species and had occurred prior to their divergence, about 300 million years ago

Developing creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills

Published ArticleA specific financial services organisation in South Africa realised that they had to join the innovation revolution in order to remain commercially competitive due to unexpected competitors entering the traditional financial services domain. The evaluation question asks whether employees in a financial services organisation can develop creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills through an intervention such as a workshop, and can a benefit for the business unit and organisation be identified. This qualitative study employed Utilisation Focused Evaluation (UFE) to address the evaluation question. Questionnaires, pen-and-paper tests and interviews were used to gather data. Descriptive statistics were applied to report the data. The most critical finding confirmed that individuals can acquire creative and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. The acquisition of these skills though is not sufficient on its own to establish a culture supportive of creativity and innovation. The study culminated in the creation of The Triple I Creativity and Innovation Model. The Triple I Creativity and Innovation Model illustrates how a workshop with distinctive training design features can impact the individual, the business unit and the organisation in order to initiate, ideaneer and ignite creativity and innovation

The Validation of an Infrared Simulation System

A commonly-used term in the simulation domain is ‘validation, verification and accreditation’ (VVA). When analysing simulation predictions for the purpose of system solution development and decision-making, one key question persist: “What confidence can I have in the simulation and its results? ” Knowing the validation status of a simulation system is critical to express confidence in the simulation. A practical validation procedure must be simple and done in the regular course of work. A well-known and acknowledged validation model by Schlesinger depicts the interaction between three entities: Reality, Conceptual Model and Computer Model, and three processes: Analysis & Modelling, Programming and Verification, and Evaluation and Validation. We developed a systematic procedure where each of these six elements is evaluated, investigated and then quantified in terms of a set of criteria (or model properties). Many techniques exist to perform the validation procedure. They include: comparison with other models, face validity, extreme condition testing, historical data validation and predictive validation - to mention a few. The result is a two- dimensional matrix representing the confidence in validation of each of the criteria (model properties) along each of the verification and validation elements. Depending on the nature of the element, the quantification of each cell in this matrix is done numerically or heuristically. Most often literature on validation for simulation systems only provides guidance by means of a theoretical validation framework. This paper briefly describes the procedure used to validate software models in an infrared system simulation, and provides application examples of this process. The discussion includes practical validation techniques, quantification, visualisation, summary reports, and lessons learned during the course of a validation process. The framework presented in this paper is sufficiently general, so that the concepts could be applied to other simulation environments as well

Stationary region predictor using a stationary camera

A method to determine the stationery probability of regions or feature points in a video sequence is proposed in this paper. This is done by identifying feature points using the Harris corner detector, finding descriptors for the feature points and then tracking the feature points. The information gained from tracking the feature points is then used to determine the stationery probability of these features. This method is shown to successfully identify probable stationery and moving regions in video sequences

Reactividad inmunoquímica de sueros anti <i>Caiman yacare</i> y <i>Caiman latirostris</i> frente a sueros de diferentes especies

Se estudió la reactividad inmunoquímica entre los sueros de distintas especies de reptiles frente a sueros hiperinmunes experimentales anti-suero de Caiman yacare y anti-suero de Caiman latirostris. Los sueros que se probaron fueron los homólogos de Caiman yacare, Caiman latirostris y los heterólogos de Alligator missisipiensis, Tupinambis merinae, Tupinambis rufescens, Chelonoidis chilensis, Clelia rustica, Waglerophis merremii, Lystrophys dorbignyi, Phyton molurus, Boa constrictor occidentalis, Eunectes notaeus, Crotalus durissus terrificus, Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops diporus, Bothrops jararaca, Bothrops jararacussu, Bothrops moojeni, Pitangus sulphuratus y Gallus gallus. La reactividad inmunoquímica se determinó mediante las técnicas de doble inmunodifusión y ELISA, mostrándose importante entre los sueros de los crocodrílidos y baja entre estos y los de las otras especies de reptiles estudiadas. Se observó mayor reactividad entre los antisueros anti-Caiman respecto a los sueros de Caiman latirostris y Caiman yacare que frente al suero de Alligator missisipiensis. Además, se encontró una fuerte reactividad entre ambos sueros anti-Caiman y el de Gallus gallus poniendo en evidencia la fuerte reactividad entre los sueros de arcosaurios.In order to study the immunochemical reactivity among sera from different species of reptiles regarding sera from Caiman, the immunoreactivity of sera from reptiles against antisera to Caiman yacare or anti-Caiman latirostris sera was studied. These hiperimmune sera were tested against sera from Alligator missisipiensis, Tupinambis merinae, Tupinambis rufescens, Chelonoidis chilensis, Clelia rustica, Waglerophis merremii, Lystrophys dorbignyi, Phyton molurus, Boa constrictor occidentalis, Eunectes notaeus, Crotalus durissus terrificus, Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops neuwiedii, Bothrops jararaca, Bothrops jararacussu, Bothrops moojeni, Pitangus sulphuratus and Gallus gallus. The immunochemical reactivity was tested by double immunodiffusion and ELISA. The results showed high reactivity among the sera from crocodiles while the reactivity against sera from the other species of reptiles studied was lower. The reactivity among sera of both species of Caiman was higher with the antiCaiman latirostris and anti-Caiman yacare sera when compared with the reactivity against serum of Alligator missisipiensis. In addition, a strong reactivity of both anti Caiman sera on serum from Gallus gallus was observed, indicating a high reactivity between achosauria sera.Asociación Herpetológica Argentina (AHA

Road safety, maintenance and claims for damages : lessons from cases and investigations

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.Engineers and road safety experts widely recognise poor road condition as contributory factor to crashes. Claims against road authorities have escalated since the capping of the Road Accident Fund payouts. Authorities are reluctant to disclose the number of claims and the cost involved. They frequently settle claims to avoid legal precedents. Road engineers thus do not learn from these claims. Claims for damages reduce the funds available for roads. The aim of this paper is to sensitise road authorities and engineers involved in road management to the legal perspectives on road safety and claims for damages. It gives an engineer's view of aspects of the law that affect road safety management. It discusses the legal duty (duty of care) of road authorities and gives an overview of the principles of Law of Delict. Recent judgments and investigations are discussed to illustrate the lessons to be learnt. Lessons learnt include the society’s expectation of high engineering standards, safe facilities including sidewalks and the need to warn of specific hazardous conditions. The general approach is that ‘’A duty of care towards road users should apply to the controlling public authority unless there is a valid basis for its exclusion. ‘’ Where this legal duty is breached and negligence is proven, damages will be awarded. Typical road failures are surface failures such as potholes and edge drops. However, the failure of services in the road reserve and violated expectation in the road environment can also cause crashes. The paper concludes that road authorities and engineers must understand the legal implications of hazardous road conditions. These often develop due to inadequate systems for inspections and lack of proactive maintenance management. It recommends that all road authorities and engineers involved in design, maintenance and management acquire appropriate legal knowledge, understand the importance of road safety and seek adequate funding to mitigate hazardous conditions instead of paying claims for damages.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by CE Projects cc. Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected]

Loss of wood formation genes in monocot genomes

Woodiness (secondary xylem derived from vascular cambium) has been gained and lost multiple times in the angiosperms, but has been lost ancestrally in all monocots. Here, we investigate the conservation of genes involved in xylogenesis in fully sequenced angiosperm genomes, hypothesising that monocots have lost some essential orthologs involved in this process. We analysed the conservation of genes preferentially expressed in the developing secondary xylem of two eudicot trees in the sequenced genomes of 26 eudicot and seven monocot species, and the early-diverging angiosperm Amborella trichopoda. We also reconstructed a regulatory model of early vascular cambial cell identity and differentiation and investigated the conservation of orthologs across the angiosperms. Additionally, we analysed the genome of the aquatic seagrass Zostera marina for additional losses of genes otherwise essential to, especially, secondary cell wall formation. Despite almost complete conservation of orthology within the early cambial differentiation gene network, we show a clear pattern of loss of genes preferentially expressed in secondary xylem in the monocots that are highly conserved across eudicot species. Our study provides candidate genes that may have led to the loss of vascular cambium in the monocots, and, by comparing terrestrial angiosperms to an aquatic monocot, highlights genes essential to vasculature on land

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