A Contemporary Analysis of the Right to Education. The Function of “Purpose” as an Indicator of Quality Education at HEIs

openEnsuring access to quality education is the main purpose of SDG 4; however, how quality is defined and conceptualised in higher education remains unclear. Many researchers analysing quality assurance and ranking systems in HE point out a lack of standardized practice in the selection of indicators or criteria for assessing quality in HE. Historical accounts of the development of HEIs suggest that ensuring quality in HE is not a phenomenon of recent years, rather a concern for centuries that will continue to garner attention. This thesis analyzes quality in education through the lenses of human rights perspectives on the right to education, as well as sociology, and economic theories of education. The methodological approach used is a comparative analysis between UNESCO–OECD indicators as benchmarks for quality education, against a list of rankings on one hand and quality assurance indicators on the other, to determine congruence with the right to education and more specifically to quality education. The results suggest that incongruence exists between the indicators, and “purpose” is proposed as an indicator that can bridge the gap.Ensuring access to quality education is the main purpose of SDG 4; however, how quality is defined and conceptualised in higher education remains unclear. Many researchers analysing quality assurance and ranking systems in HE point out a lack of standardized practice in the selection of indicators or criteria for assessing quality in HE. Historical accounts of the development of HEIs suggest that ensuring quality in HE is not a phenomenon of recent years, rather a concern for centuries that will continue to garner attention. This thesis analyzes quality in education through the lenses of human rights perspectives on the right to education, as well as sociology, and economic theories of education. The methodological approach used is a comparative analysis between UNESCO–OECD indicators as benchmarks for quality education, against a list of rankings on one hand and quality assurance indicators on the other, to determine congruence with the right to education and more specifically to quality education. The results suggest that incongruence exists between the indicators, and “purpose” is proposed as an indicator that can bridge the gap

Global assessment of the sensitivity of water storage to hydroclimatic variations

Observing basin water storage response due to hydroclimatic fluxes and human water use provides valuable insight to the sensitivity of water storage to climate change. Quantifying basin water storage changes due to climate and human water use is critical for water management yet remains a challenge globally. Observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission are used to extract monthly available water (AW), representing the combined storage changes from groundwater and surface water stores. AW is combined with hydroclimatic fluxes, including precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) to quantify the hydroclimatic elasticity of AW for global basins. Our results detect consequential global water sensitivity to changes in hydroclimatic fluxes, where 25 % of land areas exhibit hydroclimatic elasticity of AW >10, implying that a 1 % change in monthly P-ET would result in a 10 % change in AW. Corroboration using a Budyko-derived metric substantiates our findings, demonstrating that basin water storage resilience to short-term water deficits is linked to basin partitioning predictability, and uniform seasonality of hydroclimatic fluxes. Our study demonstrates how small shifts in hydroclimate flux may affect available water storage potentially impacting billions globally

Arabidopsis and Musa cyclin D2 expressed in banana (cv. “Sukali Ndiizi”- AAB) enhances regeneration efficiency

Genetic transformation of banana is important because of its polyploidy, sterility and long generation time of most cultivars which limit conventional breeding. However, transformability and regeneration of transgenic lines remains low in bananas. This research reports on the potential of CycD2 genes to improve transformation and regeneration efficiency of banana (cv. “Sukali Ndiizi”). Two genes Arath;CycD2;1 and Musa;CycD2;1 were evaluated for cell cycle modification of the embryogenic cell suspension that is conventionally used in banana genetic engineering at the National Biotechnology Centre, Kawanda. The UidA (GUS) gene was used as reporter gene to establish transient transformation frequency by fusing it with each of the CycD2; 1 genes and Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter in the binary vector, pC1305.1. The transformed “Sukali Ndiizi” cells were cultured on selection media and the hygromycin resistant clones developed into shoots. The Gus assay analyses showed a success rate of 80 to 90% for all the constructs including the control, transformed with the empty vector without CycD2; 1 gene. Also, the Gus assay of the regenerants showed that the gene was expressed in different parts of the plants (roots, corm and leaves). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the regenerated shoots gave the regeneration frequency of the embryogenic clones of Arath; CycD2; 1 and Musa; CycD2; 1 gene was 47 and 62%, respectively. This was much higher than that of the control clones without CycD2; 1 (18%). The results show that CycD2; 1 genes have the potential to significantly improve regeneration efficiency of “Sukali Ndiizi” cells”.Keywords: Cell cycle genes, reporter gene, genetic transformation, regeneration efficiencyAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(13), pp. 1467-147

Application of antibodies to recombinant heat shock protein 70 in immunohistochemical diagnosis of mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in tissues of naturally infected cattle

Table S1. Information regarding the samples included in the study. (DOCX 17 kb

The antigen recognition portion of African buffalo class I MHC is highly polymorphic, consistent with a complex pathogen challenge environment, and the 3’ region suggests distinct haplotype configurations

African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) have been distinct from the Auroch lineage leading to domestic cattle for 5 million years, and are reservoirs of multiple pathogens, that affect introduced domestic cattle. To date, there has been no analysis of the class I MHC locus in African buffalo. We present the first data on African buffalo class I MHC, which demonstrates that gene and predicted protein coding sequences are approximately 86–87% similar to that of African domestic cattle in the peptide binding region. The study also shows concordance in the distribution of codons with elevated posterior probabilities of positive selection in the buffalo class I MHC and known antigen binding sites in cattle. Overall, the diversity in buffalo class I sequences appears greater than that in cattle, perhaps related to a more complex pathogen challenge environment in Africa. However, application of NetMHCpan suggested broad clustering of peptide binding specificities between buffalo and cattle. Furthermore, in the case of at least 20 alleles, critical peptide-binding residues appear to be conserved with those of cattle, including at secondary anchor residues. Alleles with six different length transmembrane regions were detected. This preliminary analysis suggests that like cattle, but unlike most other mammals, African buffalo appears to exhibit configuration (haplotype) variation in which the loci are expressed in distinct combinations

A Google Earth-GIS based approach to examine the potential of the current rainwater harvesting practices to meet water demands in Mityana district, Uganda

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has become an integral part of global efforts to improve water access. Despite the increasing adoption of RWH in Uganda, there remains a significant knowledge gap in the assessment of RWH systems to meet water demands. In this study, a simplified methodology to estimate rainwater harvesting potential (RWHP) as a function of mean seasonal rainfall and rooftop area, generated using Google Earth and GIS tools is applied. Desired tank storage (DTS) capacities based on user population, demand and dry period lengths, were compared with RWHP to assess whether rooftop areas and tank storage can sustainably supply water for use during the March—May (MAM) and September-November (SON) 90-day dry periods, for three demand levels (i.e. for drinking and cooking (15 litres per capita per day (l/c/d)); for drinking, cooking and hand washing (20 l/c/d); and for drinking, cooking, hand washing, bathing and laundry (50 l/c/d)). Our findings document minimum catchment areas of 60m2 to have rainwater harvesting potential that can sustain households for 90-day dry periods for all three demand levels. However, considering their storage capacities, 25%, 48% and 97% of the existing RWHTs (with storage capacities below 8,000, 10,000 and 20,000 litres respectively) are unable to meet the demand of 15 l/c/d, 20 l/c/d and 50 l/c/d respectively for a 90-day dry period. The results document that the existing storage systems are under-sized for estimated water use under 50 l/c/d demand scenarios. Costs of between 2,000,000–4,500,000 Ugandan shillings (~ 600–1, 250 USD) would be needed to increase existing tank capacities to meet the 50 l/c/d demands for a 90-day dry period. These findings document onerous financial costs to achieve rainwater harvesting potential, meaning that households in Mityana district may have to resort to other sources of water during times of shortage

Evidence for conservation in antigen gene sequences combined with extensive polymorphism at VNTR loci

Theileria parva is a tick‐transmitted apicomplexan protozoan parasite that infects lymphocytes of cattle and African Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), causing a frequently fatal disease of cattle in eastern, central and southern Africa. A live vaccination procedure, known as infection and treatment method (ITM), the most frequently used version of which comprises the Muguga, Serengeti‐transformed and Kiambu 5 stocks of T. parva, delivered as a trivalent cocktail, is generally effective. However, it does not always induce 100% protection against heterologous parasite challenge. Knowledge of the genetic diversity of T. parva in target cattle populations is therefore important prior to extensive vaccine deployment. This study investigated the extent of genetic diversity within T. parva field isolates derived from Ankole (Bos taurus) cattle in south‐western Uganda using 14 variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) satellite loci and the sequences of two antigen‐encoding genes that are targets of CD8+T‐cell responses induced by ITM, designated Tp1 and Tp2. The findings revealed a T. parva prevalence of 51% confirming endemicity of the parasite in south‐western Uganda. Cattle‐derived T. parva VNTR genotypes revealed a high degree of polymorphism. However, all of the T. parva Tp1 and Tp2 alleles identified in this study have been reported previously, indicating that they are widespread geographically in East Africa and highly conserved