Christo van Rensburg (1938–2018): akademikus van formaat

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Oor jou afdrukke. Met waardering vir Cas Vos se teologies-poëtiese bydrae.

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Evaluation of the Ion Channel Assembly in a Eukaryotic Cell-Free System Focusing on Two-Pore Domain Potassium Channels K2P

Oligomeric ion channels are abundant in nature. However, the recombinant expression in cell culture-based systems remains tedious and challenging due to negative side effects, limiting the understanding of their role in health and disease. Accordingly, in this work, we demonstrate the cell-free synthesis (CFS) as an alternative platform to study the assembly of two-pore domain potassium channels (K2P) within endogenous endoplasmic reticulum-derived microsomes. Exploiting the open nature of CFS, we investigate the cotranslational translocation of TREK-2 into the microsomes and suggest a cotranslational assembly with typical single-channel behavior in planar lipid-bilayer electrophysiology. The heteromeric assembly of K2P channels is a contentious matter, accordingly we prove the successful assembly of TREK-2 with TWIK-1 using a biomolecular fluorescence complementation assay, Western blot analysis and autoradiography. The results demonstrate that TREK-2 homodimer assembly is the initial step, followed by heterodimer formation with the nascent TWIK-1, providing evidence of the intergroup heterodimerization of TREK-2 and TWIK-1 in eukaryotic CFS. Since K2P channels are involved in various pathophysiological conditions, including pain and nociception, CFS paves the way for in-depth functional studies and related pharmacological interventions. This study highlights the versatility of the eukaryotic CFS platform for investigating ion channel assembly in a native-like environment

Literêre teorie en poësiekritiek in die Tydskrif vir Wetenskap en Kuns en die Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe

In the survey attention is, in broad outline, paid to the fundamental reflections which appeared in the two magazines on the presuppositions and method of approach of literary criticism and historiography: from Francken's remarks in 1922 up to the present. Points of contact with positivism, the autonomy movements and the so-called new paradigm occur. Certain concepts of the study of literature were also discussed in course of time. Concerning poetry, the magazines rendered a contribution by honorary editions and articles, other articles on poets and their work and book reviews which display a close relation with the literary theoretical points of departure of the times concerned.Article digitised using: Suprascan 1000 RGB scanner, scanned at 400 dpi; 24-bit colour; 100% Image derivating - Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3 - Image levels, crop, deskew Abbyy Fine Reader No.9 - Image manipulation + OCR Adobe Acrobat 9 (PDF)http://explore.up.ac.za/record=b1353285nf201

Kanon en kanonvorming

Een van die aktuele navorsingsterreine in die hedendaagse Literatuurwetenskap is die aard, funksie, plek en legitimiteit van literere kanons en die meganismes wat werksaam is by die totstandkoming daarvan. Wat die VSA betref, skryf Rainey (1991: 99) byvoorbeeld dat toekomstige historici mag besluit om die kulturele lewe van die tagtigerjare te beskryf as "'the decade of the canon-debate'." Ook in die bestudering van die Afrikaanse en Suid-Afrikaanse literatuursisteem is dit van groot belang, onder meer omdat daar allerlei veranderings op politieke, sosiale, ekonomiese en opvoedkundige terrein plaasvind en vrae oor die relevansie van kanons meermale in sulke krisissituasies gestel word (kyk Fokkema (1985/6) se siening waarna daar later verwys word). Daarom is wye en diepgaande ondersoek op hierdie terrein nodig1, uiteraard met die volgende opmerkings van Fokkema (1993: 21) in gedagte: "... a distinction must be made between, on the one hand, the empirical question of how to establish what, under certain conditions, a particular canon consists of, and on the other, the normative question of which texts should be part of the canon". In hierdie artikel word aandag gegee aan enkele belangrike opvattings, verskynsels, teoretiese uitgangspunte en raamwerke.Article digitised using: Suprascan 1000 RGB scanner, scanned at 400 dpi; 24-bit colour; 100% Image derivating - Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS3 - Image levels, crop, deskew Abbyy Fine Reader No.9 - Image manipulation + OCR Adobe Acrobat 9 (PDF)http://explore.up.ac.za/record=b1120769nf201

User Research im Zukunftsorientiertem Design-Thinking: Eine Ganzheitliche Methode für das Stakeholder-Management in der Service-Optimierung

User Research ist eine wichtige und in vielen Ansätzen die erste Phase eines iterativen Designprozesses. Aber wie kann eine valide User Research für eine in die weite Zukunft gerichtete Produktgestaltung durchgeführt werden? User Research erfordert die Einbindung zukünftiger NutzerInnen oder potentieller KundInnen. Diese können aber überwiegend keine plausible Auskunft über die eigenen Bedürfnisse der (fernen) Zukunft geben. Auch können sie ausgehend vom individuellen Ist-Zustand nicht zwischen realisierbaren und utopischen Produktkonzepten unterscheiden. In diesem Beitrag diskutieren wir die Herausforderungen von User Research speziell für mittel- und langfristige Zielsetzungen und stellen einen Lösungsansatz vor: Wir empfehlen daher den Designprozess mit einem Szenarioverfahren zu initiieren, welcher eine Trendanalyse und eine Expertenbefragung beinhaltet. Aufbauend auf den Ergebnissen aus der Szenarioarbeit werden die NutzerInnen in einer späteren Phase des Designprozesses zur Evaluierung von Nutzungsszenarien eingebunden. Anhand von zwei aktuellen transdisziplinären Projekten „Elektrifizierung von landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben“ und „Sustainable Energy-Efficient Aviation“, in denen der angenommene Status zukünftiger sozialer, wirtschaftlicher und politischer Trends die Perspektive und das Konsumverhalten fiktiver NutzerInnen kontinuierlich prägen wird, zeigen wir, wie wir Nutzerforschung in strategischen Designprozessen mit hoher Vorhersagegüte einsetzen

“Harba lori fa” : a textual and intertextual journey

This article is about three poetry texts: “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” (Early one May morning) by the 13th century Dutch minstrel Duke Jan I of Brabant, and texts by two twentieth-century poets – TT Cloete (Afrikaans) and Cees Nooteboom (Dutch) – who both use the refrain from Jan I’s text (“Harba lori fa”) as title. Various interpretations of the refrain and some views on intertextuality are addressed, among others absolute and limited intertextuality and the ideas of Panagiotidou who approaches this phenomenon from a cognitive perspective. She points out, inter alia, that triggers such as words and phrases in a current text may lead readers to activate related texts and that the amount of detail (granularity) recollected is an important factor. Subsequently the three texts are considered independently – as far as this is possible – regarding their nature and structure. Attention is paid, inter alia, to sound, syntactic and semantic patterns and their functions, symbolic values, especially of elements from nature that occur in all the texts, and the role, tone and attitude of the speaking voice in each text. In the case of Jan I’s text, attention is paid, for example, to spring and traditions associated with it in Western Europe and to the presence (or not?) of courtly behaviour. Some crucial aspects of Cloete’s “family poem” are the close-knit relations between parents and children as reflected by the use of “our” and the association of the members with a bed of flowers. A game is also played with the reader by concealing the names of the poet’s wife and children in neologisms like “Astert,” at the same time undergirding the garden motif further. Nooteboom’s text has no full rhyme, but makes use of parallelism, the repetition of certain vowels and alliteration (“lijden en lachen”). The latter emphasizes the semantic opposition of suffering and laughter, a contrast that reverberates throughout the poem, especially when considering the symbolic values of the natural elements that readers may activate, for instance fig and laurel versus thorn and thistle. This creates a degree of ambivalence in the speaker’s attitude towards life, despite the seemingly joyful shout “harba lori fa” in the course of the poem. Hereafter. the author focuses on the relationship of the Cloete and Nooteboom texts (final texts) to “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” (initial text) as well as their mutual relationship with regard to, inter alia, shifts, repetition, rereading, and replacements. Important to note, however, is that Cloete’s text does not only echo Jan I’s poem, but also Psalm 128 from the Bible that is referenced in a second paratextual element: a subtitle. Both poets’ texts show a clear geographical shift: in Cloete’s case from the Dutch world of Jan I’s song and the ancient Near Eastern setting of Psalm 128 to a South African environment as indicated clearly by the plant name “kanna” (from Khoi). In Nooteboom’s poem there is a shift from the Netherlands to a Mediterranean sphere. Cloete replaces the three pretty “joncfrouwen” (unmarried girls) with a wife and children and the young man hoping to find love with a happily married husband and father. The rather contentious (ideological) issue is raised of whether all readers will find this schema – also reflected in the Psalm – acceptable, confirming the ideology of a nuclear family. Nooteboom’s poem mentions no women, but only a friend “who knows the story of his downfall”. Whereas the situation in the Cloete text reflects happiness and fulfilment, the speaker towards the end of Nooteboom’s poem – portraying himself as a weaving spider – foresees his potential destruction. In view of the friend’s situation, this may perhaps be seen as a destabilising and doubling of the self that some critics identify in Nooteboom’s work. Granularity, as it becomes evident in the intertextual relationships between Jan I’s poem and the others, is also briefly discussed. To conclude: It was found that this (limited) intertextual approach not only revealed the details of each text more clearly, but that they also bring each other in full relief.Hierdie artikel handel oor drie gedigtekste: “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” van die 13de-eeuse Nederlandse minstreel, hertog Jan I van Brabant, en tekste van twee twintigste-eeuse digters – TT Cloete (Afrikaans) en Cees Nooteboom (Nederlands) – wat albei die refrein uit Jan I se teks (“Harba lori fa”) as titel het. Daar word ingegaan op verskillende interpretasies van die refrein en op enkele sieninge oor intertekstualiteit, onder meer absolute en beperkte intertekstualiteit. Daarna kom die drie tekste elkeen afsonderlik aan bod – vir sover so iets moontlik is – en word hulle aard en struktuur bespreek. By die Cloete- en die Nooteboomtekste fokus die skrywer vervolgens op hierdie tekste (eindtekste) se verhouding tot “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” (beginteks) en ook die intertekstuele verband tussen die Cloete- en die Nooteboom-tekste onderling met betrekking tot transformasies soos verskuiwing, herlesing en vervanging. Insigte uit kognitiewe benaderings tot intertekstualiteit word ook, waar ter sake, gebruik, spesifiek die begrip korrelrigheid (“granularity”). Dit het geblyk dat hierdie (beperkte) intertekstuele benadering die besonderhede en eie aard van elke teks duideliker laat word en dat hulle ook aan mekaar volle reliëf gee.http://tgwsak.co.zaam2022Afrikaan