Meta-modes of learning that support and influence the millennial student’s holistic learning experience at an academic institute in South Africa

Teaching in diverse ways to a diverse generation, globally, academic institutes must ensure that learning is responsive, appropriate and supportive of cohorts in emerging and involving modes of learning. However, the pedagogy, processes and learning methods are of paramount importance for this diverse student generation in order to recognise subsequent cohorts for whom motivation and engagement in a holistic learning experience for millennial students could be maximised. While it has been recognised that current learning practices may not address the holistic learning experience of the millennial student, the purpose of this study, through the adoption of the Student-Owned Learning-Engagement (SOLE) model, its nine elements and 42 meta-modes of learning, is to investigate and identify the confluence of meta-modes of learning that could support and influence the millennial student’s holistic learning experience. In response to the needs of aspiring millennial learners, data were obtained from 69 students and 15 teachers by means of a self-administrated questionnaire. A comparison was drawn between the theories that the millennials preferred meta-modes of learning and the modes of teaching that the teachers had adopted. Hence, this study offers strategies to improve the holistic experience of learning. This is performed in a manner that support new empirical emerging and involving modes of learning for the millennial student

Comparison of two hormone preparations on the reproductive performance of air breathing catfish Clarias batrachus (Lin.)

Two hormone preparations viz. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) and pituitary gland (PG) suspension were compared for their comparative efficacy on the breeding performance of a air breathing catfish Clarias batrachus. It was found that HCG induced fish gave better ovulation response than PG. Both fertilization and hatching of eggs were significantly (p<O.Ol) higher in HCG treated fish than PG. On all consideration, HCG was found more suitable for induced breeding of C batrachus over PG

Anti-pancreatic cancer potential of secalonic acid derivatives from endophytic fungi isolated from Ocimum basilicum.

The word endophyte means "in the plant" and refers to all microorganisms that live in the intercellular spaces of stems, petioles, roots and leaves of plants causing no apparent symptoms of disease. Seven endophytic fungi were isolated from the medicinal plant of Ocimum basilicum L. The fungal strain, labeled as 2L, was cultivated at large scale on the potato dextrose agar semi solid medium and was extracted with ethyl acetate. Normal phase silica gel column chromatography of the ethyl acetate extract afforded ergosterol (1), secalonic acid A (2) and secalonic acid D (3). The structures of these compounds (1-3) were elucidated unequivocally by UV, IR, MS, a series of 1D & 2D NMR analyses. The cytotoxicity of these compounds was evaluated by the MTT assay against human pancreatic cancer cell line. Secalonic acid A (2) and secalonic acid D (3) exhibited significant anti-pancreatic cancer activity with IC 50 values of 7.3 and 1.6 µM, respectively

Small-scale piped water supply: end-user inclusive water research in arsenic affected areas in India and Bangladesh (DELTAP)

DELTAP is s multi-disciplinary research project, where geologists, water treatment scientists and industrial design engineers join forces to develop an integrated approach towards small-scale piped water supply (SPWS) systems in the arsenic-affected Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta. The project has started in 2016 with a field study in Bihar (India) with a focus on water quality mapping with mobile crowd participation. The coming years the research will continue with 3 PhD candidates, both in India and Bangladesh, with the ultimate aim to develop blueprints for end-user inclusive SPWS systems

Commercialization approach for Versatile Multi-Crop Planter: Lessons learnt

A Versatile Multi-crop Planter (VMP) was designed and built for seed and fertilizer application in lines when driven by 2-wheel tractors (2WT) for: single-pass shallow-tillage (SPST); strip planting (SP); zero tillage (ZT); bed planting (BP) and conventional tillage (CT). Land preparation cost by VMP was decreased by up to 75 % for single pass compared to CT (Haque at el., 2011). The VMP was capable of sowing many types of crop seeds from small jute seed up to maize seed. Demand for mechanized planters by smallholder farmers is growing rapidly due to the shortage of farm labour for operations such as planting or transplanting. Despite the promising seeder and planter developments, few of the present planters for 2WT are commercialized in Bangladesh. With the funding support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the VMP commercialization activities commenced in 2012. Initially (2012 to 2014), the VMP commercialization activities were led by International Development Enterprises (IDE) and that approach was followed by a different approach implemented by the Project Implementation Office (PIO) of Murdoch University, Australia. In this paper, we will synthesis the VMP commercialization approaches and outcomes to identify key lessons learnt

Processing of Spontaneous Emotional Responses in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders Effect of Stimulus Type

YesRecent research has shown that adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty interpreting others' emotional responses, in order to work out what actually happened to them. It is unclear what underlies this difficulty; important cues may be missed from fast paced dynamic stimuli, or spontaneous emotional responses may be too complex for those with ASD to successfully recognise. To explore these possibilities, 17 adolescents and adults with ASD and 17 neurotypical controls viewed 21 videos and pictures of peoples' emotional responses to gifts (chocolate, a handmade novelty or Monopoly money), then inferred what gift the person received and the emotion expressed by the person while eye movements were measured. Participants with ASD were significantly more accurate at distinguishing who received a chocolate or homemade gift from static (compared to dynamic) stimuli, but significantly less accurate when inferring who received Monopoly money from static (compared to dynamic) stimuli. Both groups made similar emotion attributions to each gift in both conditions (positive for chocolate, feigned positive for homemade and confused for Monopoly money). Participants with ASD only made marginally significantly fewer fixations to the eyes of the face, and face of the person than typical controls in both conditions. Results suggest adolescents and adults with ASD can distinguish subtle emotion cues for certain emotions (genuine from feigned positive) when given sufficient processing time, however, dynamic cues are informative for recognising emotion blends (e.g. smiling in confusion). This indicates difficulties processing complex emotion responses in ASD

Biotechnological recovery of heavy metals from secondary sources-An overview

10.1016/j.msec.2010.09.019Materials Science and Engineering C31257-6