The inaugural Plaatje festival, Mahikeng: A watershed event

The first Sol Plaatje festival, Mahikeng, November 5 and 6, 2010, planned by the Sol Plaatje Educational Trust of Kimberley and hosted by the North West Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and Department of Education, drew learners from a local secondary school, young and aspiring performance poets, interested citizens, language practitioners, Plaatje scholars, and importantly, Sol Plaatje and Modiri Molema family members. Together attendees, numbering around 200, from as far as Botswana, Limpopo, North West, Northern Cape and Gauteng, paid tribute to Plaatje, learned more and carried forward his legacy. As participants and “next generation” Plaatje scholars, we share a few reflections on the festival as marking a watershed moment in Plaatje scholarship

Unraveling the complexity of the Rhomboid Serine Protease 4 Family of Babesia bovis using bioinformatics and experimental studies.

Babesia bovis, a tick-transmitted apicomplexan protozoon, infects cattle in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. In the apicomplexans Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum, rhomboid serine protease 4 (ROM4) fulfills an essential role in host cell invasion. We thus investigated B. bovis ROM4 coding genes; their genomic organization; their expression in in vitro cultured asexual (AS) and sexual stages (SS); and strain polymorphisms. B. bovis contains five rom4 paralogous genes in chromosome 2, which we have named rom4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5. There are moderate degrees of sequence identity between them, except for rom4.3 and 4.4, which are almost identical. RT-qPCR analysis showed that rom4.1 and rom4.3/4.4, respectively, display 18-fold and 218-fold significantly higher (p < 0.01) levels of transcription in SS than in AS, suggesting a role in gametogenesis-related processes. In contrast, transcription of rom4.4 and 4.5 differed non-significantly between the stages. ROM4 polymorphisms among geographic isolates were essentially restricted to the number of tandem repeats of a 29-amino acid sequence in ROM4.5. This sequence repeat is highly conserved and predicted as antigenic. B. bovis ROMs likely participate in relevant host?pathogen interactions and are possibly useful targets for the development of new control strategies against this pathogen

The differential expression of Kiss1, MMP9 and angiogenic regulators across the feto-maternal interface of healthy human pregnancies:implications for trophoblast invasion and vessel development

Genes involved in invasion of trophoblast cells and angiogenesis are crucial in determining pregnancy outcome. We therefore studied expression profiles of these genes in both fetal and maternal tissues to enhance our understanding of feto-maternal dialogue. We investigated the expression of genes involved in trophoblast invasion, namely Kiss1, Kiss1 Receptor (Kiss1R) and MMP9 as well as the expression of angiogenic ligands Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A ( VEGF-A) and Prokineticin-1 ( PROK1 ) and their respective receptors (VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and PROK1R ) across the feto-maternal interface of healthy human pregnancies. The placenta, placental bed and decidua parietalis were sampled at elective caesarean delivery. Real-time RT-PCR was used to investigate transcription, while immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses were utilized to study protein expression. We found that the expression of Kiss1 (p<0.001), Kiss1R (p<0.05) and MMP9 (p<0.01) were higher in the placenta compared to the placental bed and decidua parietalis. In contrast, the expression of VEGF-A was highest in the placental bed ( p<0.001 ). While VEGFR1 expression was highest in the placenta (p<0.01), the expression of VEGFR2 was highest in the placental bed (p<0.001). Lastly, both PROK1 (p<0.001) and its receptor PROK1R (p<0.001) had highest expression in the placenta. Genes associated with trophoblast invasion were highly expressed in the placenta which could suggest that the influence on invasion capacity may largely be exercised at the fetal level. Furthermore, our findings on angiogenic gene expression profiles suggest that angiogenesis may be regulated by two distinct pathways with the PROK1/PROK1R system specifically mediating angiogenesis in the fetus and VEGFA/VEGFR2 ligand-receptor pair predominantly mediating maternal angiogenesis

Sheep, beasts, and knights: fugitive alterity in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene book VI, and The Shepheardes Calender

This chapter reads “The Legend of Courtesie”, Book VI of Spenser’s unfinished romance alongside his anonymously published debut, The Shepheardes Calender (1579), a set of twelve pastoral eclogues. Book VI seemingly rests on a series of polarisations: human/animal; culture/nature; civilisation/savagery; and, less obviously, romance/pastoral. These dualisms lend themselves to the interests of animal studies but critics have not yet brought this framework to the Book. The first task of this chapter is to draw critical attention to the significance of Book VI’s animals, particularly its pastoral flocks of sheep and the terrifying monster that is the Blatant Beast. I initially argue that the animals support the Book’s conceptual and generic polarisations; in this respect, they perform a function that is continuous with the allegorical mode of the poem as a whole. However, Spenser does not rest on such easy distinctions. This becomes evident when we turn to Book VI’s destabilisation of its own categories via its other important animals: a bear and a tiger. Spenser insinuates into his representations an alterity and hybridity which resist taming and trapping. The significance of this resistance is that it is offered not only by the other animals, but by the humans too, occurring when they occupy momentary imaginative spaces, perform temporal moves, or swerves in signification. With these deft gestures, the poem reaches for a fugitive alterity

DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION OF ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

CIGRÉ Working Group C6.11 “Development and operation of Active Distribution Networks” started its activity in August 2006 during the CIGRÉ General Session. The objectives of the Working Group (WG), as defined in the Terms of Reference were: • Provide a shared definition of active distribution networks; • Identify the enabling technologies; • Identify limits/barriers; • Assess the actual status of implementation of active distribution networks worldwide; • Provide recommendations/requirements for the integration of Distributed Energy Resources (and transition towards more active distribution networks). Firstly, the WG started setting the scene (Chapter 1) in the context of a deeply changing concept of “old” (i.e. passive) distribution networks. At the time, no clear idea of what an “active” distribution network represented was in place, and debate among different stakeholders led to differing views. Bearing this in mind, it was decided amongst C6.11 members to submit a questionnaire to all relevant stakeholders (distribution companies, research organisations, manufacturers, and customer groups) in order to review the present status of implementation of active distribution networks and provide a global, shared definition of active distribution networks (Chapter 2). Survey results indicated that there was no single definition of active distribution networks. However, key concepts could be extracted and, from these, and the following shared global definition emerged: “Active distribution networks (ADNs) have systems in place to control a combination of distributed energy resources (DERs), defined as generators, loads and storage. Distribution system operators (DSOs) have the possibility of managing the electricity flows using a flexible network topology. DERs take some degree of responsibility for system support, which will depend on a suitable regulatory environment and connection agreement.” The second action of the WG was to review the actual status of implementation of active distribution networks, using the answers to the questionnaires and through a review of the most relevant projects worldwide demonstrating active distribution network concepts. (Relevant projects were selected based on criteria agreed amongst the working group.) This exercise allowed the following to be identified: (i) key features of active distribution networks; (ii) enabling technologies; and (iii) how the researchers and stakeholders at the forefront are addressing the integration challenges. The results are presented in Chapter 3.The majority of respondants agreed that the proliferation of distributed generation was one of the key triggers for a change in operating philosophy of distribution networks. Moreover, they identified integration of distributed generators into system operations, to the extent that they take some degree of responsibility for the reliability and operation of the network, as a vital step for the success of the concept. These results are highlighted as part of the WG’s recommendations, which are provided in Chapter 4. Also is this chapter, recommendations to different stakeholders (distribution companies, manufacturers, decision makers, regulators, DG developers) are provided. These recommendations cover what actions should be taken, in terms of system operation, system planning, regulatory activities, and in general to foster adoption of technologies in the transition towards more active distribution networks. The added value of this document is that it provides a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of the active distribution network concept, how it is perceived by the industry, and then proceeds to identify the priorities of what should be done to facilitate its deployment by utilities. The document addresses not only skilled, technical people but also decision makers, in developed as well as developing countries, so that each might to benefit from what is being done worldwide on the subject