M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / The aim of this study is to point out how visual literacy can enhance the learning process, especially relating to study by means of distance education. The concepts of literacy and visual literacy are defined and discussed. Special attention is paid to the concept of academic literacy and what it entails. The conclusion is reached that visual literacy's an integral part of literacy as traditionally defined, and that no-one can be truly literate in the media-oriented society in which we live, without being visually literate. The concept of distance education is explored and recent developments at Technikon SA are outlined,as well as difficulties experienced by students who study through distance education. The discussion is focused on reasons why students enter the tertiary education system under prepared and why levels of visual literacy are generally very low. The pictorial approach to the design and production of study material for distance education is explained and discussed. Various visual elements of study material are discussed with regard to the promotion of leaning and the development of visual literacy. Recommendations are made pertaining mainly to the design and production of study material at Technikon SA. Low levels of visual literacy tend to be overlooked in current development of study material. The process of visual literacy development should be integral to the objectives of study material design.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document Copyright 1999, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Beukes, CJ 1999, A management accounting strategy for mining rehabilitation , DCom thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd- 01192007-131232/ > H110/th / Thesis (D Com (Accounting Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Accounting / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Inst Agrar (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

The concept of standing in public interest litigation has not received much attention and analysis post South Africa’s Constitutional era. This dissertation begins with a discussion of the jurisprudence of the South African courts in relation to locus standi since the early 1900s up until the year 1993. The purpose of the discussion is to illustrate the profound transformation the concept of standing in public interest litigation has undergone after the promulgation of the Constitution. A comparison is then made with the legal position on this question with the United States of America, a country that has been dubbed as the most democratic and liberal in the world which has a Bill of Rights dating back some 200 years. The case law of the US Supreme Court is dealt with, followed by the most important trends of academic criticism of this case law. This forms the basis of an informed comparison in relation to the question of locus standi between the two jurisdictions. It is argued towards the end that the locus standi dispensation in public interest litigation that has emerged in South Africa is the better of the two. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Public Law / unrestricted

In the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the South African government introduced different measures to address and manage the impact of HIV and AIDS. One of these strategies encompassed prevention and education programmes like the Peer Education Programme. Some factors were however identified, indicating that the Peer Education Programme might not be successful, which could be linked to the non-performance of HIV and AIDS Peer Educators. The goal of this study is to explore the reasons for non-performance of duties by HIV and AIDS Peer Educators within the Department of Agriculture, Eastern Cape Province. For data collection a randomised cross-sectional survey was utilised as the research design and a structured questionnaire used as a data collection tool. The questionnaire was administered with a group of HIV and AIDS Peer Educators, where each respondent completed his/her questionnaire independently of others. No sampling was done as the researcher considered the population to be manageable. From a population of 49, only 32 – 65% agreed to participate in the study. Copyright / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Silent Information Regulator 2 (SIR2) have a phylogenetically conserved catalytic domain from bacteria to humans. It catalyzes NAD+ dependent deacetylase activity post-translationally on acetylated lysine residues present in the protein. Because SIR2 are NAD+ dependent, its activity gets influenced by the change in the level of NAD+. SIR2 is responsible for calorie restriction and increased replicative yeast lifespan. It breakdown high energy bond in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and the synthesis of O-acetyl-ADP-ribose which is a novel product. Lysine de/acetylation of histone molecule plays a significant role in chromatin dynamics in eukaryotes, but little is known in term of non-histone molecule modification by SIR2 enzyme especially in the case of the plant. SIP-428 is one of the SABP2 interacting protein (SIP) that exhibit SIR2 deacetylase activity. SABP2 is one of the essential components of salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway that converts inactive methyl salicylate (MeSA) to active SA to induce local as well as SAR. AtSRT2, an Arabidopsis homolog of SIP-428 negatively regulate the basal resistance. Although catalytic domain is conserved, functional divergence has been reported in the case of SIR2 homologs. Presence of acetylated lysine residue in many cellular and organellar proteins implicated the possible physiological and metabolic role of SIP-428. Our result demonstrated SIP-428 exhibited NAD+ dependent deacetylase activity, but its lysine residue found to be acetylated, which raises the possibility of a post-translation regulatory mechanism that modulates the activity of SIP-428. SIP-428 have non-histone substrate, the negative regulator of basal resistance, and SAR. To understand better about the role of SIP-428 in plant physiology how it plays a vital role in SABP2 signaling pathway we will be using transgenic tobacco plant with altered expression of SIP-428 (Silence and inducible overexpression). Verified T3 generation of silence line and T2 generation of overexpression were created. These transgenic plant will be used to answer the possible link between SIP-428 and SABP2 in response to pathogen infection.

In South Africa, two biotypes of type species 1 of the Lyssavirus genus are maintained independently among the members of the Herpestidae and Canidae families, respectively. Canid rabies is a relatively new addition to the African subcontinent, having been introduced from infectious cycles, which had existed among dogs in Angola, in the early 1940s. Two epidemics, believed to have originated from dog endemic regions which had existed in the southern Maputo district of Mozambique since 1952, have occurred among domestic dogs in the KwaZulu Natal province in recent years. The first of these epidemics started in 1964, and ended by 1968, while the second epidemic which started in 1976, has proven to be intractable, despite the concerted efforts which have been implemented to bring it under control. In order to contribute to the understanding of the molecular epidemiology of rabies in the KwaZulu Natal province, and to thereby assist in future surveillance and control efforts, we conducted a molecular sequence analysis of representative panel of viral isolates which were obtained from the province during the year 2003. A 591 nt. sequence encompassing the G-L intergenic region and glycoprotein cytoplasmic domain was sequenced for 128 viral isolates, which were obtained from the different magisterial districts and affected host species of the province, and was subsequently used to characterize these viruses phylogenetically. Characterization of the KwaZulu Natal variants, and comparison of the obtained sequence data, to sequences data which was obtained from rabies endemic regions from elsewhere in South Africa and Zimbabwe, in general supported the pattern of spread which led to the introduction of rabies into the province, as was previously suggested from the literature. The phylogeny which was established from the analyses, indicated that the viral isolates from the province were highly related to each other, and could be divided into two groups, which although belonging to the canid biotype, were in general distinguishable from canid rabies virus isolates which were obtained from elsewhere in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The observation that these subfamilies showed a low genetic divergence, as well as that they shared a unique recent common ancestor, suggested that they were introduced recently into the northern reaches of the province, probably from the same geographical region (i.e. southern Mozambique). logenetic characterization of the KwaZulu Natal isolates further suggested that at least three enzootic fronts are currently responsible for the introduction of rabies into the northern and southern regions of the province. The first of these fronts was hypothesized to have spread directly across the southern Mozambique border (possibly via southeastern Swaziland), into the northeastern coastal regions of KwaZulu Natal, while the second front represented the south-eastwards spread of synergistic dog-jackal cycles from southeastern Mpumalanga, into the northern and northeastern regions of the province. The third front on the other hand, represented the possible spread of a remnant infectious cycle, left over from the 1964-1968 epidemic, from the northern region of the Eastern Cape, into southern KwaZulu Natal. logenetic characterization further proved useful for identifying the distribution of viral variants, and allowed us to propose a pathway by which the disease might have spread throughout the province. The proposed pathway of spread suggested that viral variants may have been translocated over long distances, and highlighted the role that major routes of human transportation may play in the dissemination of the disease. The regional characterization of viral variants from KwaZulu Natal, further demarked the location where the identified viral variants circulated in individual host populations, allowing us to place the current epidemic into an epidemiological framework which attempts to explain the long term persistence of the disease. This provided clues as to the intractability of the second epidemic, and allowed us to develop a proposal as to how current control strategies may be altered, in order to contain the current outbreak in the province. initial phylogeny which was established from the study provides an epidemiological framework, which will play an important role in determining the origin of future human spillover cases, and for tracking the spread of viral variants throughout the affected regions of the province. It is further envisaged that the data which was generated during the course of the project will be utilized in future surveillance efforts, targeted to the evaluation of the efficacy of potentially implemented control campaigns. / Dissertation (MSc (Microbiology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / unrestricted

West Nile virus (WNV) belongs to the Flaviviridae family, a virus family of which many members are known as human pathogens. WNV has a worldwide distribution and strains that cluster in lineage II is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. The complete nucleotide sequence of four lineage II West Nile virus strains, isolated in South Africa from patients with mild or severe WNV infections, were determined. Using a murine model, these strains had been shown to produce either highly or less neuroinvasive infections and induced similar genes to corresponding highly or less neuroinvasive lineage I strains. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence comparison between highly and less pathogenic lineage II strains demonstrated that the non-structural genes and in particular the gene coding for the NS5 proteins were the most variable. All the lineage II strains sequenced in this study were found to possess the E-protein glycosylation site previously postulated to be associated with virulence. Comparison of the signalase cleavage sites suggested that lineage II strains may be cleaved slightly more efficiently than lineage I strains in the C-prM junction, but less efficiently between prM and E genes. Relative to the highly neuroinvasive strains sequenced in this study major deletions were found in the 3’ noncoding region of 2 lineage II strains shown in previous studies to be either less- or not at all neuroinvasive. This is the first report of full genome sequences of highly neuroinvasive lineage II WNV strains. Currently available commercial WNV ELISA kits were developed with lineage I WNV strains and are expensive to use. For these reasons the development of a potential ELISA diagnostic assay based on the South African lineage II strain, H442, was envisaged. Such assay, if reliable and efficacious would be a useful tool towards WNV surveillance. The prM and E genes were selected to be expressed as recombinant antigens because of their co-expression nature and because the envelope protein is the principal target for neutralization. After cloning of the respective genes and verification of integrity, a mammalian expression system was utilized. Different mammalian cells and transfection media were tested and BHK 21 cells with SuperFect transfection medium were found to be best. Attempted expression of proteins was tested with immunofluorescent antibody testing as well as SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Expression of recombinant WNV antigens were also tested in indirect and sandwich ELISA’s systems. It was however not possible to perform these two ELISA systems at a satisfactory level or clearly indicated if expression of proteins was successful. / Dissertation (MSc (Microbiology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / unrestricted

Parkinson’s disease (PD) impairs the quality of life of patients and causes substantial social and economic burden. However the currently available symptomatic treatments, although initially effective, do not satisfactorily control the progressive disability experienced by patients with PD in the long run. In order to develop effective treatments for patients that aim to attain the desired effect with as few adverse events as possible, it is crucial to be able to follow and understand the biological mechanisms underlying the continued neural degeneration and treatment failure. The efforts to understand the precise pathway by which neurodegenerative processes proceed and the development of approaches to modulate them offers the promise to eventually enable the prevention of these neurodegenerative diseases. This dissertation focused on two potential synthetic methods to produce pharmaceutical grade Fluorodopa, ultimately to be able to produce positron emitting 18Fluorodopa in South Africa with its potential for studying neuronal mechanisms in the brain. 18Fluorodopa allows a unique almost non-invasive in vivo approach to the evaluation of neurochemical function in the human brain and its local introduction will be a valuable addition to medical research within South Africa’s borders. The successful implementation of safe and efficient non-radioactive models for Fluorodopa synthesis was achieved. The successful demonstration of locally synthesised Fluorodopa safety, as well as a low toxicity profile, both in vitro using cell cultures and in vivo in mouse models was achieved. These were both positive outcomes of objectives set out for this study. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Pharmacology / unrestricted

Escherichia coli 0157:H7 is classified as a member of the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) family. These organisms are responsible for a variety of clinical manifestations ranging from non-bloody diarrhoea to gross bloody diarrhoea with complications that include haemorrhagic colitis (HC), haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura (TTP). Infection occurs by the ingestion of faecally contaminated food products, water sources and through person-to-person contact. Outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported worldwide although most outbreaks seem to be from countries in the Northern hemisphere. Very little information is available on the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in South Africa. The only data available on E. coli O157:H7 were from a 1992 outbreak in Swaziland with some cases spreading to the adjacent provinces of South Africa. Selective methods were assessed and optimised to identify and isolate E. coli O157:H7 from food, water and faeces. These methods included culture techniques, immunomagnetic separation, immunoassays and molecular confirmation techniques. The methods optimised and assessed in this study proved to be suitable for the detection and isolation of E. coli O157:H7 from environmental water, food and faecal samples. In addition to the isolation of E. coli O157:H7 from these sources, methods were also optimised for the characterisation of E. coli O157:H7 using repetitive sequence analysis and induction of shiga toxin (Stx)¬converting phages which carry the genes coding for Stx from strains of E. coli O157:H7. The prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in human-, bovine- and porcine faeces, sewage and recreational waters was investigated in a selected region of South Africa. Data suggested a low prevalence in sewage (0.76%), recreational waters (0%) and human faecal (0%) samples with a higher prevalence among carriers such as cattle (12.5%) and pigs (14.29%). UV-induced Stx-converting phages were examined and found to have different phage morphologies to the previously described lambdoid structure. In order to establish the host range susceptibility of these phages, all induced phages were subjected to conditions favourable for infecting E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 E. coli and other members of the enterobacteriaceae family including Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, and Proteus. These results have shown that Stx-phages were able to infect Salmonella cholerasuis and produce infectious progeny from these strains. Stx-converting phages propagated in Salmonella cholerasuis were able to re-infect strains of E. coli O157:H7. This study has shown that IMS in combination with molecular techniques was a sensitive tool for the isolation, identification and characterisation of E. coli O157:H7 from different sources. Results indicated that Stx-phages induced from E. coli O157:H7 demonstrated lambdoid structure as well as phages with long hexagonal heads and long non-contractile tails. / Dissertation (MSc (Medical Virology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Medical Virology / unrestricted