Putting the human at the centre: Human rights and literary studies in South Africa

Drawing on my teaching experience of Human Rights and African Literature, particularly the unpacking of “human” in human rights, this paper argues for revitalising and deepening the study of literature in South African universities, with the aim of reconstructing and (re)humanising societies. Through focalising the imbrication of story/narrative with the human and rights, the article uses specific lecture/class room experiences to suggest another way of reframing enduring historic modes of perception, some of which tend to the inhumane or “monstrous”. Given its emphasis on basic human rights such as dignity, equality and freedom, rights-reading coupled with a reflexive methodology to the teaching and learning of literature, can contribute to an informed citizenry. The paper suggests that such approaches point to the future of literary scholarship – interventionist and interdisciplinary

Student funding: The case of disabled students in South African higher education:

By virtue of many countries’ existence within neoliberal and capitalist systems, in which education is commodified, students with economic disadvantage find themselves in a precarious position in terms of funding, resulting in limited access to education in higher education. While many of disadvantaged students confront challenges of funding resulting in continuous indebtedness in higher education in South Africa, the situation is exacerbated for the disabled ones, who have extra economic needs when it comes to their education. The empirical study, informed by specific concepts from Decolonial Theory and Critical Disability Studies informed understanding of funding for disabled students at one university in South Africa. The finding was that while a specific funding model for disability was available, it was inadequate for learning of those with disabilities resulting in their continued indebtedness and exclusion from the system. The study sought to engage in the debate of inadequate funding in the Global South, which keeps students from economic disadvantage, including the disabled ones in debt, thereby disempowering them and making it difficult for them to contribute meaningfully to the decolonisation project in higher education largely, and making change

A potentially treatable cause of dementia

A research article on dementia in old age Zimbabweans.Dementia is under-diagnosed in routine clinical practice in the developing world. Symptoms are often attributed to normal ageing, even though they may be a result of underlying medical conditions. We report a case of a patient with extensive cerebral calcification due to hypoparathyroidism who was being managed for dementia. While cases of extensive calcification in parathyroid hormone disorders have been reported sporadically in the literature over the years, the current case highlights the potential diagnostic pitfalls when patients present with dementia

The perceptions of Zimbabwean Pharmacists of their overall job satisfaction and the factors associated with it

Job satisfaction plays an important role in the motivation, productivity and performance of employees including pharmacists. We investigated the perceptions of Zimbabwean pharmacists of their overall job satisfaction and the factors associated with it. A random sample of 120 licensed pharmacists working in community, and hospital pharmacies and industry in Zimbabwe participated in this cross-sectional study. Pharmacists were highly satisfied with their jobs. Older pharmacists and those with more experience were more satisfied than younger ones. Pharmacists in industry had the greatest job satisfaction while those in large chain retail pharmacies had the lowest. Owners were more satisfied with their jobs than non-supervisor pharmacists. There was no significant difference in job satisfaction by gender and marital status. We conclude that although pharmacists in Zimbabwe are satisfied with their jobs in general, this is not so for young pharmacists who mainly work in retail chain pharmacies. Key words: Job satisfaction, pharmacy manpower, pharmacy, Zimbabwe East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 12 (2009) 74-7

The curriculum tracker: A tool to improve curriculum coverage or just a tick-box exercise?

Research on teacher professional development generally states that teachers do not take new innovations on board easily. The study reported on here focused on the uptake of a curriculum tracker tool designed to improve curriculum coverage by mathematics teachers. The tool formed part of the Jika iMfundo (JiM) programme launched by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and a partner organisation. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which secondary mathematics teachers and heads of department (HoDs) used the tools for their intended purposes. The study was carried out with teachers and department heads from 14 schools located in 2 districts of KwaZulu-Natal. Data were generated by 21 interviews, supplemented by secondary data sourced from responses to previous surveys conducted by JiM. The findings show that most teachers considered the tool as a tick-box activity, instead of using it to guide their planning in a meaningful manner. Furthermore, there was misalignment between planning undertaken by the provincial education department and JiM. It is crucial that teachers on the ground are consulted first in order to jointly identify how certain problems can be addressed before any professional development activity is implemented

An exfoliated graphite-based Bisphenol A electrochemical sensor

The use of an exfoliated graphite (EG) electrode in the square wave voltammetric detection of bisphenol A (a model phenolic pollutant) in water, whereby the phenolic electrode fouling challenge is mitigated, is described. The oxidation peak of BPA was observed at about 0.45 V in phosphate buffer solution at pH 10. The current response exhibited a linear relationship with the concentration over a range from 1.56 μM–50 μM. The detection limit was calculated to be 0.76 μM. The EG electrode surface was renewed after each measurement with excellent reproducibility. A real sample application was also investigated

Assessing the nutritional status of beef cattle: current practices and future prospects

Accurate determination of nutritional and health status of animals is invaluable in modern animalagriculture. Body weights and body condition scoring are the commonly used methods of assessingnutritional status of animals. This paper discusses drawbacks these methods have and highlights thebenefits for using blood metabolites in assessing nutritional status of beef cattle. Blood metabolitelevels indicate the extent of metabolism of energy, proteins and other nutrients in animals. Glucose,cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids, protein, urea, creatinine, albumin, globulin, minerals, liverenzymes and haematology can be used objectively, reliably and routinely to assess the nutritionalstatus of cattle. In Southern Africa, the use of these metabolites is rare due to lack of equipment forblood analysis and the high cost of analyzing the blood parameters. However, use of high value Ngunicattle in Southern Africa requires the use of blood parameters to accurately assess their nutritionalstatus. Several factors, such as physiological status of an animal, breed, nutrition, season and ageaffect levels of blood metabolites. Combining body weights, body condition scores and bloodmetabolites increase accuracy of assessing the nutritional state and welfare of beef cattle

Transformational leadership and employee organisational commitment in a rural-based higher education institution in South Africa

Orientation: Transformation is a topical issue in South African higher education institutions. The slow and sluggish progress in attempts to transform the sector can be attributed to leadership and commitment of staff in these institutions. Research purpose: The study investigated perceptions of employees and managers on the connection between transformational leadership style and employee organisational commitment in a selected rural-based higher education institution in South Africa. Motivation for the study: This study was conducted to determine whether a perceived lack or the presence of transformational leadership style influences the level of organisational commitment of academic and non-academic staff members of a rural-based university. It is believed that in this way, the study may assist in determining and identifying the strategies to be used to improve the commitment of the staff members to attain the much needed transformation in higher education institutions. Research design, approach and method: A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data following a quantitative research design. The target population was divided into academic and non-academic strata. Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed. Main findings: The study found that transformational leadership style has a positive and significant relationship with affective commitment and moderate relationship with continuance commitment. On the contrary, it had no relationship with normative commitment. The study further revealed that perceived transformational leadership style explained the variance on employee organisational commitment. Therefore, the study concludes that effects of perceived transformational leadership style on employee commitment cannot be the same in different institutions and settings. Practical and managerial implications: The study recommends that each institution should diagnose its situation for a better pictorial view of how transformational leadership affects employee organisational commitment in their organisation. Contribution: The results of the study may assist leaders and employees in higher education institutions to enhance commitment for both academic and non-academic staff members through transformative leadership style to attain transformational goals of the South African higher education institutions as projected by the national government. Furthermore, this study will ensure the promotion and creation of transformative leaders who are adaptive and proactive in dealing with challenges of transformation in the former ‘black’ higher education institutions in South Africa and who also have staff members committed to this higher education transformation agenda

Assembling pieces of the centromere epigenetics puzzle

The centromere is a key region for cell division where the kinetochore assembles, recognizes and attaches to microtubules so that each sister chromatid can segregate to each daughter cell. The centromeric chromatin is a unique rigid chromatin state promoted by the presence of the histone H3 variant CENP-A, in which epigenetic histone modifications of both heterochromatin or euchromatin states and associated protein elements are present. Although DNA sequence is not regarded as important for the establishment of centromere chromatin, it has become clear that this structure is formed as a result of a highly regulated epigenetic event that leads to the recruitment and stability of kinetochore proteins. We describe an integrative model for epigenetic processes that conform regional chromatin interactions indispensable for the recruitment and stability of kinetochore proteins. If alterations of these chromatin regions occur, chromosomal instability is promoted, although segregation may still take place