The impact of university incorporation on college lecturers

In South Africa, recent government plans to change the institutional landscape of higher education have resulted in mergers of colleges into universities or technikons. The research reported in this article focuses solely on the impact of a "college-into-university" incorporation as manifested in the personal, emotional and career experiences of these college staff members. It traces the changes in their perceptions and emotions during and after the incorporation process. It also identifies recurring themes and issues evident in the personal lives of those affected by this incorporation. A unique research methodology was engaged: The College staff who had been appointed to the university after the merger, identified seven critical themes and then designed and conducted 30 semi-structured interviews among themselves. This article thus documents the impact of incorporation into a university on the individual and collective lives of the researchers themselves. The data suggest that the emotional impact of incorporation was intense and that the uncertainty, especially, led to considerable trauma. The most important concern emanating from this joint research project is that while a certain degree of distress is unavoidable in any institutional merger, inattention to the management of human resources, emotions and aspirations could linger on, possibly having a negative effect on the ambitions for the transformation of the new entity.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.co

The biology and ecology of lotic nematodes

Traunspurger W. The biology and ecology of lotic nematodes. FRESHWATER BIOLOGY. 2000;44(1):29-45.1. Morphological structures for identifying freshwater nematodes, e.g. buccal cavity, sensory receptors, oesophagus, reproductive organs and tail are described. 2. Most freshwater nematodes belong to the Adenophorea and are characterised by the presence of setae, adhesive glands and conspicuous amphids. 3. Methods for collecting nematodes from the sediments of running water (e.g. corer, pumps), within plants and aufwuchs are listed. Methods for fixation, extracting and preparing nematodes for identification are described. 4. Life history parameters (e.g. generation time, eggs per female) are not available for lotic nematodes but are summarised for free-living nematodes in soil, lakes and seas. Field studies indicate that, in contrast to laboratory experiments with nematode cultures, many species will have a generation time of several months. 5. Abundance and species diversity of nematodes of lotic habitats are provided; more than 100 nematode species inhabit lotic habitats and densities can reach 230 individuals per ml. 6. Links between meiobenthic nematodes and the micro- and macrobenthos are unclear at present. Evidence such as the increased bacterial activity due to nematode grazing suggests that such interactions may be significant