Pandemic disruptions to access to higher education in South Africa: A dream deferred?

The COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT) and online learning highlighted issues of social justice, pedagogical inclusion and epistemic access in higher education. The research underlying this article analyses the complexities of access to learning and the effects of the shift to ERT and online learning on the social justice agenda in South Africa, using the case study of the University of Johannesburg. The article uses the conceptual frameworks of epistemic access, equity and inclusive pedagogy from the theories of Fraser (2008), Mbembe (2016) and Mgqwashu (2016). Pedagogic continuity and inclusion (Motala and Menon 2020; Menon and Motala 2021), hard-won by many institutions during the pandemic, will need to be sustained and secured as the world adapts to a “new normal” in higher education and other spheres of life. Czerniewicz et al. (2020, 957) refer to the maxim “Anytime, anyplace, anywhere” characterising ERT as a “brutal underestimation of the complexities and entanglement of different inequalities and structural arrangements”. Fataar (2020), Czerniewicz et al. (2020) and Hodges et al. (2020) advocate an alternative pedagogy that is “trauma-informed” and offers parity with the pedagogies that prevailed pre-pandemic. The article concludes that the pre-existing conditions of deep inequality and inequities, and a highly differentiated higher education system with uneven pedagogical practices, were exacerbated by the pandemic. While we acknowledge the achievement of avoiding the loss of the academic year during the pandemic, we argue that it is important to learn lessons from the initial implementation of ERT and the fractures that it highlights in higher education. Heading into an uncertain future, the sector needs explicit equity-driven approaches to ensure pedagogical inclusion beyond physical and epistemic access

A Comparison of Static and Dynamic Functional Connectivities for Identifying Subjects and Biological Sex using Intrinsic Individual Brain Connectivity

Functional magnetic resonance imaging has revealed correlated activities in brain regions even in the absence of a task. Initial studies assumed this resting-state functional connectivity (FC) to be stationary in nature, but recent studies have modeled these activities as a dynamic network. Dynamic spatiotemporal models better model the brain activities, but are computationally more involved. A comparison of static and dynamic FCs was made to quantitatively study their efficacies in identifying intrinsic individual connectivity patterns using data from the Human Connectome project. Results show that the intrinsic individual brain connectivity pattern can be used as a ‘fingerprint’ to distinguish among and identify subjects and is more accurately captured with partial correlation and assuming static FC. It was also seen that the intrinsic individual brain connectivity patterns were invariant over a few months. Additionally, biological sex identification was successfully performed using the intrinsic individual connectivity patterns, and group averages of male and female FC matrices. Edge consistency, edge variability and differential power measures were used to identify the major resting-state networks involved in identifying subjects and their sex

A Study of Brain Neuronal and Functional Complexities Estimated Using Multiscale Entropy in Healthy Young Adults

Brain complexity estimated using sample entropy and multiscale entropy (MSE) has recently gained much attention to compare brain function between diseased or neurologically impaired groups and healthy control groups. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signals in a large cohort (n = 967) of healthy young adults, the present study maps neuronal and functional complexities estimated by using MSE of BOLD signals and BOLD phase coherence connectivity, respectively, at various levels of the brain’s organization. The functional complexity explores patterns in a higher dimension than neuronal complexity and may better discern changes in brain functioning. The leave-one-subject-out cross-validation method is used to predict fluid intelligence using neuronal and functional complexity MSE values as features. While a wide range of scales was selected with neuronal complexity, only the first three scales were selected with functional complexity. Fewer scales are advantageous as they preclude the need for long BOLD signals to calculate good estimates of MSE. The presented results corroborate with previous findings and provide a baseline for other studies exploring the use of MSE to examine changes in brain function related to aging, diseases, and clinical disorders

Plant Growth Regulators for Mitigating Water Stress in Cowpea

Water is becoming a scarce commodity for irrigation especially under the present changing climatic scenario. Water stress hampers important physiological and biochemical mechanisms leading to reduction in plant growth and yield. Studies revealed that the exogenous application of plant hormones has been found to alleviate the negative effects of various abiotic stresses. Cowpea, being a non-season bound crop, can be grown throughout the year and it performs well during summer season under irrigation, but water scarcity limits its area under cultivation. However, limited research works have been conducted to investigate the potential benefits of exogenous application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) in cowpea grown under water stress conditions. So the present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of exogenous application of certain plant growth regulators to mitigate water stress in cowpea, to find out an effective plant growth regulator for drought management and to assess the response of cowpea to these plant growth regulators

Seed Hardening and Moisture Conservation Practices to Mitigate Water Stress in Cowpea

Cowpea is an important protein catering feed/fodder for cattle. Being a non-season bound crop, it can be grown throughout the year and performs well during summer season under irrigation but water scarcity limits its area under cultivation. It necessitates the development of alternate management technologies to overcome the water stress period for the sustainable growth and yield of the crop. Seed hardening, soil moisture conservation measures like mulching and antitranspirant sprays are the techniques which helps the plant to survive under drought. So the present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of various seed primers, antitranspirants and mulches for mitigating water stress in cowpea grown during summer season, to find out the best among each and also to assess the response of cowpea to these techniques under water stress conditions

The eels and eel fisheries of India

Traditionally marketable species of eels are caught from conventional fishing grounds of northwest and northeast coasts of India and are largely a by-catch