Empowering teachers and learners: Strategies to maximise curriculum potential and counter disadvantage in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, through the Khanyisa initiative

This paper first provides a discussion on disadvantage and what that means in an educational context. It then proposes a theoretical conceptualisation of curriculum highlighting that curriculum advantages some learners more than others on several levels. Finally, discussion then turns to an evaluative study of an initiative that is ongoing in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, involving disadvantaged learners and their teachers in under-resourced schools. Key findings from the study include effective ways the initiative found (a) to assist teachers in disadvantaged schools to keep abreast of changes to curriculum; (b) to empower teachers to promote their learners’ capacity to access the physical science, higher level mathematics, and the business studies curriculum; and (c) to support learners to substantially increase their grades in what they term ‘the killer subjects’. This paper has a strong focus on mathematics as it is here that there have been the most marked increases in learners’ grades. These outcomes in turn have allowed learners to escape from the poverty trap and the disadvantage in which they had been situated

Transculturalism in parents' experiences of caring for an autistic child

In the UK there has been a marked increase in children from minority ethnic families receiving an autism diagnosis but there continues to be a dearth in research that has explored the diversity of families’ lived experiences. The research sought to address this under-representation by using a transcultural approach to understand how families are drawing on multiple cultural influences in response to having an autistic child. Eleven parents from nine families who lived in one London borough were interviewed using a non-directive narrative approach. The families included two parents who were born in the UK, five who migrated to the UK as children and four who came to the UK as adults. All the families had a child with autism aged between four and seventeen years old, who attended either a special school or a mainstream school in the same London borough. Combining transculturalism with a narrative interview approach made it possible to pay attention to the ways in which families’ lives are transformed when they have an autistic child, how parents develop multiple identities in their interactions with professionals and family members across different social and cultural contexts and the impact this has on their sense of belonging to the community and networks of support. Analysing the interviews followed a case-based approach with themes examined within and across all cases. A thematic analysis of the families’ transcultural experiences showed that there were commonalities in their experiences of parenting children with autism as well as distinct and relevant cultural values and resources which influenced their individual responses to having an autistic child. The families wanted teachers in mainstream schools and those in their community to have more understanding and knowledge about how autism affected their lives and positive recognition of the solution-focused strategies that they were using to advocate for their autistic child’s healthcare and education. The findings from this research supported the development of a transcultural model that will be of value in developing culturally responsive pedagogical practice in autism education. The recommendations are that there is a need to further address culture and ethnicity in research on autism and special education, encouraging teachers to think about how they work with autistic children and the social and cultural realities that are an essential aspect of families’ transcultural lives

The Formation of Gay Space in Joko Anwar’s Arisan!

Although the notion of gay space started out as a cultural geographic study that predominantly focused on Western countries where gay visibility was high, more scholars have begun to show keenness in tracing the existence of gay space in Asian regions in recent years. This article traces the formation of gay space in Jono Anwar’s 2003 movie Arisan!. Set in modern day Indonesia where homosexuality is still deeply frowned upon, the movie explores how the male protagonist - Sakti struggles to come to terms with his own homosexuality in a world governed by heteronormativity. This study argues that the gay space in Arisan! is not formed by merely portraying the gay characters in a positive light but rather, by toppling the heteronormative structures that shaped the core of sexual hegemony as portrayed in the movie. This study examines how the formidable heteronormative structures are destabilized by toxic masculinity, toxic femininity, and the problematizing of heterosexual world for the purpose of making room for the formation of gay space.

Reading The Book of Jonah through the Eco-Spiritual Perspective

Whether one chooses to acknowledge or disregard its significance, nature has always been part of us. In an anthropogenic era, the dire state of the environment has made it an increasingly concerning topic of discussion among us. Nature has been extensively examined in numerous scholarly discussions ranging from secular to religious perspectives. This paper examines how nature plays a crucial role in helping us understand the relationship between God and humans, as portrayed in the Bible. The Bible being a religious text exists with very specific purposes. That being said, elements of nature were also used very specifically in the Bible. Most presently available scholarly research focuses on reading the significance of nature elements from religious perspectives. However, this research employs the eco-spirituality theory to examine the book of Jonah from the Bible to determine the relationship between Jonah, God, and nature. Through this secular perspective, the aim is to show that elements of nature have been carefully woven into narratives to signify various meanings. Furthermore, this research aims to identify how God communicates with humans through nature, which eventually helps to establish various forms of relationships between humans and nature. Through these newly formed relationships, we can understand the authority of a Creator and the consequences of obedience and submission. All these highlight the importance of co-existence between humans and nature, and examining the Bible through the lens of eco-spirituality perpetuates the relevance of the Bible to 21st-century readers.

Moulding a villain in billion dollar whale: a post-humanist approach

The advancement of the human race and the emergence of new ideologies/movements often come hand in hand. Post-humanism is a concept whose origin can be traced to the 1980s when people began to challenge the long-established views of humanism. Humanism emphasises that the world be evaluated through a fixed moral hierarchy where the human species must be placed on top of it. On the contrary, post-humanism challenges this view by highlighting the importance of redefining what it means to be human. It urges people to embrace different identities and see the world beyond its basic dualistic nature. This paper examines how post-humanistic ideas can be employed as tools to mould the villain, Jho Low, in Tom Wright’s and Bradley Hope’s Billion Dollar Whale. This article draws on ideas from Donna Haraway (1985) in relation to the concept of ‘cyborg’ and Francesca Ferrando’s (2019) discussion on post-dualism that breaks the categorical differences between humans and other non-human objects. It argues that the book’s villain, Jho Low, has been transformed so significantly that he is no longer bound by his origins, physical presence, and abilities attributed to humans, eventually rendering him invincible. It also highlights the idea that, just as with any other human, villains evolve, too, offering a different perspective through the post-humanistic lens

Computational Strategy for Graphene: Insight from Odd Electrons Correlation

The correlation of odd electrons in graphene turns out to be significant so that the species should be attributed to correlated ones. This finding profoundly influences the computational strategy addressing it to multireference computational schemes. Owing to serious problems related to the schemes realization, a compromise can be suggested by using single-determinant approaches based on either Hartree-Fock or Density-Functional theory in the form of unrestricted open-shell presentation. Both computational schemes enable to fix the electron correlation, while only the Hartree-Fock theory suggests a set of quantities to be calculated that can quantitatively characterize the electron correlation and be used for a quantitative description of such graphene properties as magnetism, chemical reactivity, and mechanical response. The paper presents concepts and algorithms of the unrestricted Hartree-Fock theory applied for the consideration of magnetic properties of nanographenes, their chemical modification by the example of stepwise hydrogenation, as well as a possible governing the electron correlation by the carbon skeleton deformation.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 table

The Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of mostly Southern Novae

We introduce the Stony Brook / SMARTS Atlas of (mostly) Southern Novae. This atlas contains both spectra and photometry obtained since 2003. The data archived in this atlas will facilitate systematic studies of the nova phenomenon and correlative studies with other comprehensive data sets. It will also enable detailed investigations of individual objects. In making the data public we hope to engender more interest on the part of the community in the physics of novae. The atlas is on-line at \url{http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/fwalter/SMARTS/NovaAtlas/} .Comment: 11 figures; 5 table

Bioengineering thymus organoids to restore thymic function and induce donor-specific immune tolerance to allografts

One of the major obstacles in organ transplantation is to establish immune tolerance of allografts. Although immunosuppressive drugs can prevent graft rejection to a certain degree, their efficacies are limited, transient, and associated with severe side effects. Induction of thymic central tolerance to allografts remains challenging, largely because of the difficulty of maintaining donor thymic epithelial cells in vitro to allow successful bioengineering. Here, the authors show that three-dimensional scaffolds generated from decellularized mouse thymus can support thymic epithelial cell survival in culture and maintain their unique molecular properties. When transplanted into athymic nude mice, the bioengineered thymus organoids effectively promoted homing of lymphocyte progenitors and supported thymopoiesis. Nude mice transplanted with thymus organoids promptly rejected skin allografts and were able to mount antigen-specific humoral responses against ovalbumin on immunization. Notably, tolerance to skin allografts was achieved by transplanting thymus organoids constructed with either thymic epithelial cells coexpressing both syngeneic and allogenic major histocompatibility complexes, or mixtures of donor and recipient thymic epithelial cells. Our results demonstrate the technical feasibility of restoring thymic function with bioengineered thymus organoids and highlight the clinical implications of this thymus reconstruction technique in organ transplantation and regenerative medicine

Milk feeding, solid feeding, and obesity risk:a review of the relationships between early life feeding practices and later adiposity

Childhood obesity is a major health issue with associated ill-health consequences during childhood and into later adolescence and adulthood. Given that eating behaviors are formed during early childhood, it is important to evaluate the relationships between early life feeding practices and later child adiposity. This review describes and evaluates recent literature exploring associations between child weight and the mode of milk feeding, the age of introducing solid foods and caregivers’ solid feeding practices. There are many inconsistencies in the literature linking early life feeding to later obesity risk and discrepancies may be related to inconsistent definitions, or a lack of control for confounding variables. This review summarizes the literature in this area and identifies the need for large scale longitudinal studies to effectively explore how early life feeding experiences may interact with each other and with nutritional provision during later childhood to predict obesity risk

Role of innate T cells in anti-bacterial immunity

Innate T cells are a heterogeneous group of αβ and γδ T cells that respond rapidly (<2 h) upon activation. These innate T cells also share a non MHC class I or II restriction requirement for antigen recognition. Three major populations within the innate T cell group are recognized, namely, invariant NKT cells, mucosal associated invariant T cells, and gamma delta T cells. These cells recognize foreign/self-lipid presented by non-classical MHC molecules, such as CD1d, MR1, and CD1a. They are activated during the early stages of bacterial infection and act as a bridge between the innate and adaptive immune systems. In this review, we focus on the functional properties of these three innate T cell populations and how they are purposed for antimicrobial defense. Furthermore, we address the mechanisms through which their effector functions are targeted for bacterial control and compare this in human and murine systems. Lastly, we speculate on future roles of these cell types in therapeutic settings such as vaccination