Reconsidering postgraduate ‘supervision’ from a participatory action learning and action research approach

Postgraduate supervision is most often perceived as a one-to-one relationship between an expert and a novice researcher. Even when working in groups, an instructional approach tends to dominate, where the supervisor(s) prescribe(s) the content and process, with a narrow focus on the outcome of degree completion, rather than a more holistic approach to the development of postgraduate scholars. At a time when curriculum transformation is high on the agenda of Higher Education, we problematise this traditional conceptualisation of postgraduate supervision and argue for a more participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) approach to postgraduate learning and development. PALAR creates a relational and reflective space for dialogical conversations, equalizing traditional power relations and democratising knowledge creation. This opens up the possibility for postgraduate candidates to perceive themselves as self-directed lifelong learners and collaborative action leaders, rather than just ‘students’. Using a case example of a postgraduate PALAR retreat, we thematically analyse the data generated from participant reflections, presented over three days in visual, oral and other creative forms. Findings reveal that this approach to postgraduate learning and development enhances critical thinking and promotes collaboration rather than competition. Participants are thus able to see themselves as developing scholars and action leaders within their specific fields of influence.  Such outcomes are likely to provide a solid foundation for developing future academics or other professionals, able to model a holistic, participatory approach to knowledge creation in their own practice.

Deletion mutagenesis of large areas in Plasmodium falciparum genes: a comparative study

BACKGROUND: The increasing emergence of Plasmodium falciparum parasites resistant to most of the cost-effective drugs has necessitated the identification of novel leads and drug targets. Parasitespecific inserts in enzymes that are essential for the differentiation and proliferation of malarial parasites have received considerable interest since it distinguishes these proteins from their human counterparts. The functions of these inserts, which include mediations of protein activities or protein-protein interactions, are being investigated by several strategies including deletion mutagenesis. A comparative study of five widely used PCR-based mutagenesis methods identified a modified inverse PCR method as particularly suitable for the deletion of large areas (>100 bp) in malaria parasite genes. METHODS: The restriction enzyme-mediated inverse PCR method described here incorporates unique restriction enzyme sites at the 5'-ends of inverse tail-to-tail primers. The entire genecontaining vector is amplified except the desired region to be deleted and cloned using the unique restriction sites to increase ligation efficiency. This method was compared in its efficiency to delete a ~400 bp parasite-specific insert in malarial S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase/ornithine decarboxylase (PfAdoMetDC/ODC) to existing PCR-based site-directed deletion mutagenesis methods including the QuickChange™ site-directed mutagenesis, ExSite™, overlapping primer and inverse PCR. In addition, the modified method was applied in the deletion of a >600 bp parasitespecific insert in another malarial gene, pyridoxal kinase (PfPdxK). RESULTS: The modified and optimized restriction enzyme-mediated inverse PCR method resulted in 80% compared to 40% deletion mutagenesis efficiency of the overlapping primer method in the deletion of a large area (411 bp) from a large malaria gene (PfAdoMetDC/ODC, gene size 4257 bp). In contrast, deletion mutagenesis methods such as the well-known QuickChange™ site-directed mutagenesis, ExSite™ and inverse PCR methods produced insignificant results. A 100% mutagenesis efficiency was obtained with the restriction enzyme-mediated inverse PCR method to delete 618 bp from a smaller gene (PfPdxK). CONCLUSION: An efficient method was developed for the deletion of large areas (>100 bp) in significantly sized genes such as those of the A+T-rich P. falciparum genome

Polyamine uptake in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is dependent on the parasite's membrane potential

Polyamines are present at high levels in proliferating cells, including cancerous cells and protozoan parasites and the inhibition of their synthesis has been exploited in antiproliferative strategies. Inhibition of the malaria parasite’s polyamine biosynthetic pathway causes cytostatic arrest in the trophozoite stage but does not cure in vivo infections in the murine model of malaria. This is possibly due to exogenous polyamine salvage from the host, which replenishes the intracellular polyamine pool. This implies that disruption of polyamine metabolism as an antimalarial chemotherapy strategy may require targeting both polyamine biosynthesis and transport simultaneously

Perbanyakan Mikro Colocasia Esculenta (L.) Schott Var. Antiquorum melalui Penggunaan IAA

Media perbanyakan in vitrosangat diperlukan untuk meningkatkan kemampuan multipikasi tunas maupun kualitas bibit. Media Murashige Shoog (MS)dapatditambahkanzat pengatur tumbuh sebagai pemacu pertumbuhan dalam kultur in vitro.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan konsentrasi IAA terbaik bagi pertumbuhan talas jepang dalam kulturin vitro. Perlakuan terdiri dari 4 taraf konsentrasi IAA yaitu I0 (0 mg/L), I1 (0,5 mg/L), I2 (1 mg/L), I3 (1,5 mg/L) yang diulang sebanyak 5 kali dalam rancangan acak kelompok. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa pemberian IAA berpengaruh nyata terhadap saat muncul tunas, jumlah tunas, tinggi tunas, jumlah daun dan jumlah akar satoimo. Konsentrasi IAA 0,5 mg/L merupakan konsentrasi terbaik untuk pertumbuhan akar dan saat muncul tunas talas satoimo, sedangkan konsentrasi IAA 1 mg/L merupakan konsentrasi terbaik untuk jumlah tunas, tinggi tunas dan jumlah daun satoimo. Kata kunci: kultur in vitro, talas jepang, IAA, perbanyaka

Effect of vitamin-enriched bread on the vitamin status of an isolated rural community - a controlled clinical trial

No Abstract

Assessing user behaviour and acceptance in real-world automated driving: the L3Pilot project approach

The L3Pilot project, funded by H2020, is conducting the first large-scale piloting of SAE Level 3 automated driving in Europe. The main aim of the project is to address a number of key questions in a step towards introducing automated vehicles on European roads. This paper discusses the approach taken by the L3Pilot project, to evaluate user behaviour in, and acceptance of, automated driving in real-world pilots. Although some technical challenges associated with the development and demonstration of such technologies are well-documented, current methodologies, such as those used to evaluate Field Operational Tests (FOTs), offer little guidance about assessing the impact of automated driving on users’ behaviour and acceptance. This paper outlines the methods used and developed for assessing user behaviour and acceptance within the project, summarises some of the methodological challenges involved in collecting data during an automated driving pilot, and discusses some approaches we have developed to solve these multifaceted challenges

Lecturer resilience during student unrest : a South African case study

Over the past few years, local and international universities have seen considerable student unrest in response to unaffordable tuition fees and inequality and even pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, resilience becomes evident in the way people behave in adverse situations. Especially for developing lecturers, resilience may help to respond appropriately to adverse situations, regardless of where the pressures originated from. Therefore, this study investigated the role resilience played in the teaching behaviours and approaches displayed by lecturers during student unrest. Semistructured interviews and the Brief Resilience Scale were applied to generate data from 16 participants. Findings reveal that most lecturers displayed moderate to high levels of resilience and study results strongly relate to the multi-dimensional teacher resilience framework selected for exploring the topic. What emerged, was the lecturers’ determination to teach, as well as their personal agency and collaboration, all contributing to an ability to successfully fulfil their responsibilities. The findings of this study may add value to how university management structures could assist lecturers during times of adversityhttp://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/newgenam2022Chemistr

Lecturer Resilience During Student Unrest: A South African Case Study

Journal ArticleOver the past few years, local and international universities have seen considerable student unrest in response to unaffordable tuition fees and inequality and even pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, resilience becomes evident in the way people behave in adverse situations. Especially for developing lecturers, resilience may help to respond appropriately to adverse situations, regardless of where the pressures originated from. Therefore, this study investigated the role resilience played in the teaching behaviours and approaches displayed by lecturers during student unrest. Semistructured interviews and the Brief Resilience Scale were applied to generate data from 16 participants. Findings reveal that most lecturers displayed moderate to high levels of resilience and study results strongly relate to the multi-dimensional teacher resilience framework selected for exploring the topic. What emerged, was the lecturers’ determination to teach, as well as their personal agency and collaboration, all contributing to an ability to successfully fulfil their responsibilities. The findings of this study may add value to how university management structures could assist lecturers during times of adversity

MADIBA: A web server toolkit for biological interpretation of Plasmodium and plant gene clusters

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray technology makes it possible to identify changes in gene expression of an organism, under various conditions. Data mining is thus essential for deducing significant biological information such as the identification of new biological mechanisms or putative drug targets. While many algorithms and software have been developed for analysing gene expression, the extraction of relevant information from experimental data is still a substantial challenge, requiring significant time and skill.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>MADIBA (MicroArray Data Interface for Biological Annotation) facilitates the assignment of biological meaning to gene expression clusters by automating the post-processing stage. A relational database has been designed to store the data from gene to pathway for <it>Plasmodium</it>, rice and <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Tools within the web interface allow rapid analyses for the identification of the Gene Ontology terms relevant to each cluster; visualising the metabolic pathways where the genes are implicated, their genomic localisations, putative common transcriptional regulatory elements in the upstream sequences, and an analysis specific to the organism being studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MADIBA is an integrated, online tool that will assist researchers in interpreting their results and understand the meaning of the co-expression of a cluster of genes. Functionality of MADIBA was validated by analysing a number of gene clusters from several published experiments – expression profiling of the <it>Plasmodium </it>life cycle, and salt stress treatments of <it>Arabidopsis </it>and rice. In most of the cases, the same conclusions found by the authors were quickly and easily obtained after analysing the gene clusters with MADIBA. </p