An investigation of the perceptions of learners and staff in respect of the dental technology extended first year programme

Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.This study investigates the perceptions of learners and staff of the Dental Technology Extended First Programme (EFYP) currently offered in the Department of Dental Services at the Durban University of Technology. The EFYP has been offered since 1995 in order to meet the needs of under prepared learners in the Dental Technology programme as well as to address transformation of the programme. The Dental Technology EFYP has evolved over a number of years and was one of the first extended programmes offered in South African higher education. No evaluation of this programme has occurred since its inception. Moreover, the present study is particularly relevant as it has been conducted at a time that the Department of Education is concerned with low throughput rates in South African tertiary education. It is hoped that insights into this programme gained from this study will be of benefit to educators either currently providing foundation provision or those contemplating foundation provision in the future. It is noted that little research into foundation provision has, to date, been conducted in South Africa. For this study, learners currently registered in the Dental Technology programme and staff from the programme were interviewed in semi-structured interviews, and the main themes concerning foundation provision emerging from the study were identified. I conclude that the current EFYP is an academically sound programme contributing to the academic development of individual learners as well as to the overall success of the Dental Technology programme. Learners were unanimous in their belief that the EFYP contributed positively towards their academic advancement. Furthermore, learners noted the contribution that the EFYP made to their integration into higher education through a range of interventions such the departmental mentorship programme. Staff, also, favourably viewed the EFYP as academically successful

Why Fiction Matters

I explore five features that bear upon literary value and what is involved in appreciating those features. In the introduction, I motivate the project, examine the notion of literary value itself, and sketch the major arguments of the dissertation. In chapter one, I argue that the sonic qualities of a work of fictional literature are always relevant to the literary value of the work. In chapter two, I develop a working account of rhythm in literature and argue that sufficiently appreciating rhythm when reading a work of literature requires performative interpretation. In chapter three, I argue that truth is sometimes relevant to the literary value of fiction. In chapter four, I argue that literature has the capacity to cultivate moral expertise in the intuitive judgment of particular moral cases and that such capacity contributes to literary value. Finally, in chapter five, I argue that fictional literature can provide a reader with the resources for an intimate emotional connection with the author and that a work’s ability to afford such an experience is a literary merit. The larger goal of the dissertation is to make a positive contribution to the discussion of literature’s value, particularly as it concerns prose fiction

Guest Artist: Kyle Gregory

Kemp Recital HallApril 14, 2013Sunday Evening8:00 p.m

Ensemble Concerts: The Treble and University Oratorio Choir; The University Symphony Orchestra and Honors Chamber Orchestra; May 23, 1971

Capen AuditoriumMay 23, 19713:00 p.m

Resolving the Antibaryon-Production Puzzle in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions

We argue that the observed antiproton production in heavy-ion collisions at CERN-SpS energies can be understood if (contrary to most sequential scattering approaches) the backward direction in the process $p\bar p \leftrightarrow \bar{n}\pi$ (with $\bar{n}$=5-6) is consistently accounted for within a thermal framework. Employing the standard picture of subsequent chemical and thermal freezeout, which induces an over-saturation of pion number with associated chemical potentials of $\mu_\pi\simeq$~60-80 MeV, enhances the backward reaction substantially. The resulting rates and corresponding cross sections turn out to be large enough to maintain the abundance of antiprotons at chemical freezeout until the decoupling temperature, in accord with the measured $\bar{p}/p$ ratio in Pb(158AGeV)+Pb collisions.Comment: 4 pages ReVTeX incl. 2 eps-figs, minor changes (two figs added, rate eq. written more explicitly), version accepted for publication in PR

Intermediate mass excess of dilepton production in heavy ion collisions at BEVALAC energies

Dielectron mass spectra are examined for various nuclear reactions recently measured by the DLS collaboration. A detailed description is given of all dilepton channels included in the transport model UrQMD 1.0, i.e. Dalitz decays of $\pi^0,\eta,\omega,\eta'$ mesons and of the $\Delta(1232)$ resonance, direct decays of vector mesons and $pn$ bremsstrahlung. The microscopic calculations reproduce data for light systems fairly well, but tend to underestimate the data in $pp$ at high energies and in $pd$ at low energies. These conventional sources, however, cannot explain the recently reported enhancement for nucleus-nucleus collisions in the mass region 0.15 GeV<$M_{ee}$<0.6 GeV. Chiral scaling and $\omega$ meson broadening in the medium are investigated as a source of this mass excess. They also cannot explain the recent DLS data.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, references update

Novel virus discovery and genome reconstruction from field RNA samples reveals highly divergent viruses in dipteran hosts.

We investigated whether small RNA (sRNA) sequenced from field-collected mosquitoes and chironomids (Diptera) can be used as a proxy signature of viral prevalence within a range of species and viral groups, using sRNAs sequenced from wild-caught specimens, to inform total RNA deep sequencing of samples of particular interest. Using this strategy, we sequenced from adult Anopheles maculipennis s.l. mosquitoes the apparently nearly complete genome of one previously undescribed virus related to chronic bee paralysis virus, and, from a pool of Ochlerotatus caspius and Oc. detritus mosquitoes, a nearly complete entomobirnavirus genome. We also reconstructed long sequences (1503-6557 nt) related to at least nine other viruses. Crucially, several of the sequences detected were reconstructed from host organisms highly divergent from those in which related viruses have been previously isolated or discovered. It is clear that viral transmission and maintenance cycles in nature are likely to be significantly more complex and taxonomically diverse than previously expected

Oceans without history? Marine Cultural Heritage and the sustainable development agenda

This paper aims to set out the role Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) can play in informing responses to global challenges and enhancing the sustainable development of coastal zones. This requires recognition of the importance of MCH as a knowledge base amongst marine ocean scientists, policy makers and marine stakeholders on the one hand and a greater effort by marine heritage specialists to engage with the 2030 Agenda on the other. The forthcoming UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) provides an opportunity to engage with the sea more widely but it is argued that the cultural element provided by considering past human action is currently lacking. The importance of understanding human interaction with the sea in terms of gaining a more complete picture of human history is briefly presented and a definition of MCH as all past action in the human zone is given. The article then sets out how MCH can enhance sustainable development in the marine zone with particular reference to SDG14 considering heritage tourism, coastal development and infrastructure, development aid policy, climate change, coastal management, fisheries and the offshore industry. The article highlights that the knowledge and data from MCH should be seen as crucial in evidence-based decision making across the coastal and marine sectors. The paper concludes that the inclusion of MCH approaches in initiatives aiming at coastal and ocean sustainability is not just advisable—it is essentia