Honey is a naturally sweet substance produced by honeybees from water, pollen, and nectar. Due to its unique nutritional and therapeutic benefits, which are ascribed to the interaction of the various chemical groups it contains, natural honey is one of the most popular consumed products. Modern-day individuals consume a lot of refined granulated sugar, either directly through foods or indirectly from other sources. The consumption of large amounts of refined granulated sugar alters hematological and physiological changes in the body. According to several scientific studies, honey can be a healthier alternative to refined granulated sugar because it does not threaten human health. Consuming natural honey raises serum iron levels and red blood cell counts since it is known that the iron in honey serves as a precursor to hemoglobin. Overconsumption of refined granulated sugar has been identified as a risk factor for metabolic disorders such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of the golden liquid from honeybees (natural honey) and refined granulated sugar on the blood glucose and serum iron levels of 25 Wistar albino rats. The experimental animals used in this study were grouped into five treatments based on the dose of natural honey and refined granulated sugar administered namely: T1 (1.02 g of honey /kg BW), T2 (1.40g of honey /kg BW), T3 (1.02 g of refined granulated sugar /kg BW), T4 (1.40g of refined granulated sugar /kg BW), rats in T5 were not administered honey, and refined granulated sugar served as the control. The blood glucose concentration of the albino rats was measured using the glucose strips with a glucometer while the serum iron analysis was conducted using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The result revealed that the mean blood glucose level of the rats was highest in T3 (112.95mg/dl), followed by T5 (92.20mg/dl) while the least value was recorded in T2 (74.86mg/dl). There was a significant difference in the blood glucose levels of albino rats orally administered natural honey and refined granulated sugar at varying levels (P0.05) among treatments. It was found that the highest serum iron level was recorded in T5 (1.31±0.395 ppm) followed by T2 (1.22± 0.115 ppm), while the least serum iron level was recorded in T1 (0.88±1.319ppm). It was observed that there were no significant differences in the serum iron levels of the albino rats (p>0.05) among treatments The use of natural honey is recommended since albino rats orally administered honey at varying doses had lower blood glucose levels than those given refined granulated sugar. This work will be a useful tool for understanding the role of honey over granulated sugars, especially among prediabetic and diabetic patients in order to control their sugar levels using diet as a source. This implies that the consumption of natural honey did not significantly increase blood glucose levels. It was therefore recommended that physicians and dietitians should advocate for natural honey use over refined granulated sugar which could be safe for consumption by diabetic patients.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the influence of nitrite on fish. Influence of nitrite was evaluated on the basis of acute and sub-chronic toxicity tests results on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The effects of nitrite were also observed in wels catfish {--} albino (Silurus glanis). On the basis of the results of acute toxicity tests, values of lethal concentration of nitrite for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (96hLC50 = 11.2 mg.l-1 NO2-) and for wels catfish {--} albino (Silurus glanis) (96hLC50 = 15.8 mg.l-1 NO2-) were calculated. Using results of acute toxicity test for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and with respect to legislative requirements, concentrations of nitrite for sub-chronic toxicity test were selected. The results of sub-chronic toxicity test showed that nitrite concentration of 3 mg.l-1 NO2- during 28-day exposition caused 65 % fish mortality. This concentration also caused growth rate decrease compared to control. Growth rate among fish exposed to concentrations lower then 3 mg.l-1 NO2- was comparable to control. Among fish exposed to nitrite concentration of 0.6 mg.l-1 NO2- and higher nitrite accumulation in muscle and in blood plasma was observed. Haematological examination showed statistically significant decrease of haematocrit value and concentration of haemoglobin and increase of the number of leukocytes in experimental fish. Other measured haematological parameters (Ery, MCV, MCH and MCHC) were comparable with control.

L’obiettivo della tesi è di indagare gli anni trascorsi a Venezia da Albino Luciani, anni non esaurientemente approfonditi dalla storiografia e sui quali la memoria storica è ancora divisa. L’evidenza principale che ne scaturisce è la difficoltà non solo di Luciani, ma di tutte le personalità che avevano ruoli di guida e di responsabilità all’interno della Chiesa, nel misurarsi con l’attuazione del Concilio Vaticano II. L’ipotesi interpretativa proposta è che il filo conduttore di tutta l’opera pastorale del presule bellunese sia stato uno sforzo di fedeltà alla tradizione romana e all’autorità papale seppur attraverso l’ammodernamento dei metodi pastorali utilizzati. Il patriarca di Venezia è risultato particolarmente rappresentativo di tutto un episcopato nazionale montiniano che ha attuato in Italia le ricezione conciliare secondo l’ermeneutica di Paolo VI. L’indagine, avendo cura di confrontare sempre il piano dell’omiletica e il piano delle reali scelte pastorali attuate, analizza a tutto campo l’operato di Luciani, dalle attività diocesane al suo apporto alla vita ecclesiale a livello regionale, nazionale e internazionale; ha inoltre il pregio di aver utilizzato come fonte importante materiale inedito reperito nei nove archivi storici utilizzati e in vari archivi personali. Infine, è corredato di un’ampia e interessante appendice che racchiude le testimonianze orali di venti testimoni scelti. / The aim of the thesis is to investigate the years passed in Venice by Albino Luciani, years not exhaustively studied by historiography and on which historical memory is still divided. The main evidence is the difficulty not only of Luciani, but also of all personalities who had leadership roles and responsibilities within the Church, in measuring itself with the realization of the Second Vatican Council. The interpretative hypothesis is that the main theme of all the pastoral work of the patriarch of Venice was an effort of fidelity to the Roman tradition and papal authority even through the modernization of the pastoral methods. The patriarch of Venice was particularly representative of a whole national Montinian episcopate which carried out in Italy the Council reception according to the hermeneutic proposed by Paul VI. The survey, comparing the plan of homiletics and the plan of the real pastoral options implemented, examines entirely Luciani’s work, from the diocesan activities to his contribution to regional, national and international Catholic Church. The thesis uses as sources important unpublished material retrieved in nine historical archives and in various personal archives. Finally, the thesis is accompanied with a wide and interesting appendix that contains the interviews with twenty chosen witnesses.

The aim of this essay is to examine the significance of the concept of sanctification in biblical theological reflection on economics through a comparative textual study. The theologians analyzed are Albino Barrera, Wayne Grudem, and Kathryn Tanner. In what way are their biblical and systematic theologies of economics related to their understanding of the concept of sanctification? What is the relationship between sanctification and the Bible’s words on economics? In a broader perspective, the essay aims to reflect on how the concept of sanctification can be viewed and enunciated in the light of a capitalist economic system. The theologians used in the essay all have their origins in disparate theological discourses, Christian communities, and academic disciplines. Barrera is a biblical scholar, economist and a priest in the Catholic Church. In Biblical Economic Ethics, Barrera writes an economic theology with an emphasis on social justice. Grudem is a Calvinist Baptist biblical scholar and systematic theologian, active in conservative evangelical theological discourse. In Politics according to the Bible, Grudem presents his biblical theology on politics and society. Tanner is a systematic theologian in the Episcopal Church, active in the disciplines of feminist and constructive theology. In Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism, she critiques the economic paradigm she describes as the new spirit of capitalism. Barrera, Grudem, and Tanner all make different readings of what the Bible has to say about economic life. Grudem actively endorses the economic system of today, while Barrera and Tanner have a more critical voice. Barrera sees sanctification as a gift of divine friendship from God. Grudem views sanctification as what comes after conversion from sin and the blessings granted by God. Tanner means that sanctification takes place through the work of the Spirit and by Jesus’ gift of a life in holiness. Through the essay a connection has been established between a person’s view on sanctification and their biblical theology on economics. Barrera’s, Grudem’s, and Tanner’s biblical theology on economics is closely connected to their understanding of the concept of sanctification. There seems to be a connection between the biblical material that is being analyzed, how it is analyzed, and what is being left out. A central finding in the essay is the connection between the understanding of sanctification as either a gift or a reward.

La tesi affronta il controverso tema dell’‘Africitas’, ovvero della singolare specificità politica, economica e culturale delle province africane nel contesto dell’ecumene romano-imperiale, esaminandola nelle sue eterogenee manifestazioni geo-politiche e militari nel periodo compreso tra la risistemazione augustea dei domini africani e gli esordi della dinastia flavia (31 a.C. – 70 d.C.). In quest’arco cronologico le frequenti e violente insurrezioni delle popolazioni autoctone a difesa della propria indipendenza – vere e proprie reazioni di rigetto alla progressiva romanizzazione guidate da carismatici capi berberi (Tacfarinas) o da funzionari del dissolto regno di Mauretania (Edemone) – furono precocemente arginate e soppiantate da fermenti automistici di diversa natura, declinati nelle forme del potentato personale ad opera di governatori romani quali Clodio Macro e Lucceio Albino, desiderosi di ascendere ai vertici della gerarchia imperiale sfruttando la crescente floridezza delle province africane come formidabile ‘trampolino di lancio’ per nutrire le proprie velleitarie ambizioni di potere. Tali tentativi, per quanto ancora in stadio embrionale e risoltisi rapidamente in un fallimento, rappresentarono tuttavia il preludio alle ben più articolate e gravi secessioni e usurpazioni tardo-antiche di matrice africana. / The primary purpose of this thesis is to investigate the complex and elusive topic of the so-called ‘Africitas’ in the historical context of the African provinces during the early Roman empire, between the overall resettlement of North-African territories undertaken by Augustus and the new arrangement of the African provinces fostered by the Flavian dinasty. During this period, the frequent and violent insurrections promoted by local populations, in particular by the Berber tribes, against the Roman conquest and the increasing romanization of their lands were early suppressed and replaced by autonomistic turmoils and ambitious aspirarations conceived by unscrupulous Roman governors like Clodius Macer and Lucceius Albinus, who tried, without any success, to carve out some niches of autonomy and personal authority among African subjects. Anyway, their complete failure in gaining support from the local population was destined to pave the way for the much more serious African secessions and usurpations of the Late Antiquity.

Initially mycoheterotrophic plants have recently been declining in the wild, even without apparent causes. They are affected by a number of biotic and abiotic factors. The aim of this work is to investigate how selected factors, such as nitrate or symbiotic fungi, may influence their distribution in nature. In particular, the work applies in vitro experiments, molecular determination of fungal symbionts and stable isotope analyses. It describes both the effects of abiotic factor, specifically nitrate, and biotic interactions of initially mycoheterotrophic plants with fungal symbionts. The inhibition of germination by extremely low concentrations of nitrate in asymbiotic in vitro cultures was observed in several orchid species. The degree of sensitivity of each species to nitrate corresponds with the nitrate content of the soil and the nutrient availability requirements of the species according to Ellenberg indicator values. The inhibitory effect of nitrate on orchid germination was also observed in symbiotic in vitro cultures. Out of five tested fungal strains, only one Ceratobasidium was capable of eliminating the inhibitory effect of nitrate. Furthermore, the work reveals that green mixotrophic orchids use photosynthates to nourish the aboveground parts, whereas the belowground parts are...

Autobiographical writing acquired increasing importance during the apartheid period, with greater numbers of autobiographical texts being published by a more representative range of South Africans across race, class and gender categories. This thesis analyzes the implications of shifts in autobiographical production, in English, during the years 1948-1994 through the examination of selected texts. The readings are informed by poststructuralism, modified by information about indigenous black South African cultural practices, as well as by input supplied by some of the autobiographical texts themselves. This theoretical approach may be referred to as a "pratique de metissage" (Glissant). The texts selected for close reading are from a field of over 120 autobiographical texts. They were chosen for their ability to illustrate important trends in South African autobiographical writing, specifically with regard to the three constituent parts of autobiography: autos, bios, and graphe. The chapter dealing with the depiction of self interrogates the hierarchized discourses of male-biased humanism in Roy Campbell's Light on a Dark Horse (1951). In Ellen Kuzwayo's Call Me Woman (1985) I analyze the melding of the conceptual frameworks of indigenous black cultures and Western individualism by which the autobiographical subject is defined. Breyten Breytenbach's The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist (1984) is read as an exploration of the postmodernist decentred self. In the chapter focusing on the portrayal of life experiences, I examine the ways in which the narrator of Albert Luthuli's Let My People Go (1962) seeks to secure the reader's approval of his version of recent South African history; while the analysis of the sub-genre referred to here as worker autobiography is principally concerned with the politics of life-writing. In Chapter 5, I look at how Godfrey Moloi's My Life: Volume One (1987) uses the discourses of popular American movies of the 40s and 50s in order to validate a self victimized by racism, and also at the ways in which Lyndall Gordon's Shared Lives (1992) probes the limits and possibilities of biography through autobiographical speculation. In general, apartheid autobiography moves away from individualism to contribute, through various means, to social and political change. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

Despite the fact that albinism affects several South Africans, it is a condition that remains deeply misunderstood. Albinism is steeped in myth and false notions, and is perceived by many as a curse and contamination. For years, persons living with albinism have been treated with doubt and suspicion. Also in schools and in the wider community, children with albinism are subjected to violence and ridicule. In certain areas on the African continent, including Southern Africa, persons living with albinism are killed for the trade in body parts for use as sacramental medicines, or sexually assaulted as a result of the belief that raping them may offer a cure for HIV/AIDS. All of this highlights the extreme vulnerability of persons living with albinism, not to mention the many violations of their fundamental rights that follow from the manner in which they are treated. Within the social context that frames the experience of persons living with albinism, the primary purpose of this study is to highlight some of the pertinent challenges faced by persons living with albinism in South Africa which compromise the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights as enshrined in the South African Constitution. The thesis makes a number of practical recommendations that will assist in promoting the legal position of this vulnerable group, while also contributing to a better understanding of albinism in general which will ultimately change negative perceptions and debunk the myths surrounding the condition. / Jurisprudence / LL. D.