109 research outputs found
The Use of animal organ dissection in problem-solving as a teaching strategy
The major purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using animal organ
dissection in general, and its use specifically in problem-solving as a teaching strategy in
Grade 11 Life Sciences education. A multiple methods research design was used for this
study.
The data collection methods for the quantitative approach were the pre-test, post-test and a
questionnaire. The pre-test and post-test had predominantly problem-solving questions. The
questionnaire and the tests were administered to 224 learners from four Pretoria East
secondary schools from different environments. The data collection methods for the
qualitative approach were the interviews with the Grade 11 Life Sciences teachers of the
selected schools, lesson observations and relevant document analysis. The interviews were
conducted with six Grade 11 Life Sciences teachers teaching at the four selected schools.
Findings from both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches were integrated to give an
in-depth understanding of the study. The findings show that there were significant differences
between the means of the pre-test and the post-test for the total for the whole group of 224
learners. The variables in which the tests were categorised were the rote learning,
problem-solving and three learning outcomes of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS).
The way in which the learners answered the questions in terms of terminology they used, the
confidence they displayed, the level of answering and the explanations they gave when they
wrote the post-test were significantly different from when they wrote the pre-test. The
significant differences between the means of the pre-test and the post-test may possibly have
been due to the intervention. This showed the effectiveness of the intervention which was
animal organ dissection in problem-solving. The study also showed that most teachers are not
well-acquainted with problem-solving strategies which made it challenging for them to use
animal organ dissections to develop problem-solving skills in learners. The attitudes of the
teachers and learners towards animal organ dissection and its use in problem-solving as a
teaching strategy were predominantly positive with less than a quarter of the whole group
being negative due to a variety of reasons which include: moral values, religion, culture,
blood phobia, squeamishness and being vegetarian. The majority of learners acknowledged
the importance of animal organ dissections in developing skills like investigative, dissecting and problem-solving skills. This acknowledgement resulted in them being positive towards
the use of animal organ dissections in problem-solving.
One can conclude that animal organ dissections can be used in problem-solving as a teaching
strategy in Life Sciences education. The level of learner engagement with animal organ
dissections can determine the level of development of problem-solving skills as was
evidenced by the differences between the mean scores of the four schools. The study
recommended that the teachers should be encouraged to use animal organ dissections more
frequently where it is applicable to develop problem-solving skills in learners and not merely
let the learners cut, draw and label the organ. Teachers should also focus on problem-solving
in general and develop this as a prime strategy. All activities should be prepared by the
teacher and implemented in class to encourage and develop problem-solving skills.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013.gm2014Science, Mathematics and Technology Educationrestricte
Conflict management in Kenyan electoral conflict: 2002-2012
In the recent years, majority of African countries have been faced by conflicts during election periods. Some of the electoral related conflicts escalated into violence, and they have been transformed or managed. While other electoral related conflicts have just been prevented during the election periods but remain latent conflicts that would escalate triggered by future elections. This study focuses specifically on electoral conflicts in Kenya and its conflict management perspective from 2002-2013. To transform and manage the conflict, peacebuilding initiatives have been integrated in the study. The prime actors in Kenya electoral conflict includes the; the ruling party coalition, the leading opposition coalition and ethnic groupings affiliated to the ruling party and opposition. Other peripheral actors include: the Independent, Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the judiciary. Triangulation (the combination of two or more methods of collecting and analysing data) has been adopted both in data collection and analysis. Focus group interviews, selected individual interviews, and literature reviews were used to collect data, while research findings were analysed systematically using the constructivist grounded theory. Moreover, the liberal peace theory, Institutionalisation before Liberalisation (IBL) and findings from other researchers like (Elder, Stigant and Claes 2014:1-20), and the Afrobarometer research findings (Kivuva 2015) have been used to authenticate the research findings. Research findings indicates that claims of election rigging, numerous institutional failures, negative ethnicity and economic disparity, among other factors heighten the fear and anxiety that escalates during elections. Towards achieving peacebuilding and sustainable peace, the following reforms were undertaken: constitutional changes and reviews, electoral body reform, judicial reform, pursuit of transitional justice, extensive range of local initiatives reforms and police reforms. However, findings in the study also reveal that despite the latter reforms, peacebuilding measures have been short-term, temporal, and not fully successful, leaving behind a latent conflict that could be triggered again with future electoral conflicts. Besides that, negotiation, dialogue and mediation played a role in restoring trust and confidence in the democratic structures after escalated elections. We also recommend that multi-ethnic composition for electoral coalitions should also be adopted as a means to mitigate ethnic triggered conflicts
Detection and identification of myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase and its assumed defective variant in different Neurospora crassa strains by immunological methods
Detection and identification of myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase and its assumed defective variant in different Neurospora crassa strains by immunological method
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Multidrug-resistant Nontyphoidal Salmonella Hotspots as Targets for Vaccine Use in Management of Infections in Endemic Settings.
BACKGROUND: Salmonella infections cause a disproportionately high number of deaths in Africa, especially among poor urban populations. The increasing level of multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections is a major cause of concern in these settings where alternative effective treatment is unavailable. Other options for management of these infections must be sought. The knowledge of hotspots in endemic settings can help to prioritize management and control measures in Kenya and the region. METHODS: Using blood cultures, we investigated children presenting with fever of unknown origin for Salmonella infections. We performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing to further characterize Salmonella isolates. Using Global Positioning System technologies, we mapped Salmonella isolates to households of patients in the study site and determined risk factors associated with high concentration of cases in particular sites. RESULTS: A total of 281 Salmonella species (149 from blood and 132 from fecal samples) from febrile children <5 years of age were studied. These consisted of 85 Salmonella Typhimurium, 58 Salmonella Enteritidis, 32 other nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) serotypes, and 126 Salmonella Typhi. The prevalence of MDR invasive NTS (iNTS) was 77.2%, with 15% resistant to ceftriaxone, a drug that is last-line treatment for iNTS and other severe gram-negative infections in Kenya. Invasive NTS and S. Typhi together mapped around common water vending points and close to sewer convergence points in the highly populated village. CONCLUSIONS: These hotspots could be targeted for management and control strategies, including a combined introduction of typhoid and iNTS vaccines, aimed at reducing transmission in these endemic settings
High relatedness of invasive multi-drug resistant non-typhoidal Salmonella genotypes among patients and asymptomatic carriers in endemic informal settlements in Kenya.
Invasive Non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease is a major public health challenge, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In Kenya, mortality rates are high (20-25%) unless prompt treatment is instituted. The most common serotypes are Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis). In a 5 year case-control study in children residing in the Mukuru informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, a total of 4201 blood cultures from suspected iNTS cases and 6326 fecal samples from age-matched controls were studied. From the laboratory cultures we obtained a total of 133 S. Typhimurium isolates of which 83(62.4%) came from cases (53 blood and 30 fecal) and 50(37.6%) from controls (fecal). A total of 120 S. Enteritidis consisted of 70(58.3%) from cases (43 blood and 27 fecal) and 50(41.7%) from controls (fecal). The S. Typhimurium population fell into two distinct ST19 lineages constituting 36.1%, as well as ST313 lineage I (27.8%) and ST313 lineage II (36.1%) isolates. The S. Enteritidis isolates fell into the global epidemic lineage (46.6%), the Central/Eastern African lineage (30.5%), a novel Kenyan-specific lineage (12.2%) and a phylogenetically outlier lineage (10.7%). Detailed phylogenetic analysis revealed a high level of relatedness between NTS from blood and stool originating from cases and controls, indicating a common source pool. Multidrug resistance was common throughout, with 8.5% of such isolates resistant to extended spectrum beta lactams. The high rate of asymptomatic carriage in the population is a concern for transmission to vulnerable individuals and this group could be targeted for vaccination if an iNTS vaccine becomes available
Animal organ dissections in high schools : is there more than just cutting?
In Life Sciences education internationally, including South Africa, the study of animal and organ morphology
has traditionally involved dissections since the early nineteenth century. The major purpose of this study was
to investigate how the engagement of learners with animal organ dissections may influence the development
of problem-solving skills and how teachers use animal dissections to develop these skills of Grade 11
learners in Life Sciences (Biology) education. A mixed-methods research design was used for this study.
Data were collected from a pre-test and a post-test (which had predominantly problem-solving questions),
a learner questionnaire, lesson observations and teacher interviews. Tests and questionnaires were
administered to 224 Grade 11 Life Sciences learners. Six Grade 11 Life Sciences teachers at four high
schools from different environments participated in the study. The pre-test and post-test scores were
compared using a parametric matched t-test. The comparison for the five cognitive levels including rote
learning and problem-solving as well as the total calculation were all highly significant with p-values
<0.0001. The learners’ responses in the questionnaire and the teachers’ responses during the interviews
indicate their acknowledgement that animal organ dissection may be used to develop problem-solving
skills. The results show that there is more to animal organ dissection than just cutting and drawing; it may
be used as a problem-solving teaching strategy. The level of learner engagement with animal organ
dissections can determine the level of development of problem-solving skills. This study recommends that
teachers should be encouraged to link animal organ dissections to specific anatomical and physiological
problems where applicable, and to allow learners to solve these problems when performing the
dissections; they should not merely let the learners cut, draw and label the organ.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmse202016-06-03am201
Quasi particle interference of heavy fermions in resonant x ray scattering
Resonant x ray scattering RXS has recently become an increasingly important tool for the study of ordering phenomena in correlated electron systems. Yet, the interpretation of RXS experiments remains theoretically challenging because of the complexity of the RXS cross section. Central to this debate is the recent proposal that impurity induced Friedel oscillations, akin to quasi particle interference signals observed with a scanning tunneling microscope STM , can lead to scattering peaks in RXS experiments. The possibility that quasi particle properties can be probed in RXSmeasurements opens up a new avenue to study the bulk band structure ofmaterials with the orbital and element selectivity provided by RXS. We test these ideas by combining RXS and STM measurements of the heavy fermion compound CeMIn5 M Co, Rh . Temperature and doping dependent RXSmeasurements at the Ce M4 edge show abroad scattering enhancement that correlateswith the appearance of heavy f electron bands in these compounds. The scattering enhancement is consistentwith themeasured quasi particle interference signal in the STMmeasurements, indicating that the quasi particle interference can be probed through the momentum distribution of RXS signals. Overall, our experiments demonstrate new opportunities for studies of correlated electronic systems using the RXS techniqu
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