Bibliography: pages 102-115. / The purpose of the study was to explore the feasibility of training conservation skills to a group of Black 7 - 8 year old children enrolled in a primary school in the Gugulethu township, a Black residential area in the Cape. From a group of 100 children, 60 subjects were selected on the basis of failure to conserve as measured by Piagetian conservation tasks. One of the conservation tasks was employed for training the subject to be able to conserve. A pre-test/post-test experimental design was used in a six phase experiment; assessment of possession of conservation concepts through the aid of Piagetian tasks of conservation of substance, weight, number and length; assessment of intelligence with the aid of the New South African Individual Scale; assessment of mental ability using the Draw-a-person test; group training with different methods of teaching on length conservation; immediate post test to determine effectiveness of training and transfer to other tasks and a delayed post-test to four weeks after training to assess retention of training effects.

About seventy-seven percent of Zambia’s citizens who are engaged in primary activity in the agriculture sector are poor (Economies, 2017). One of the ways in which the poverty levels can be reduced is by lessening constraints of access to finance in agriculture sector. The implications of the low access to credit in the agriculture sector is reduced productivity, high food insecurity and perpetual poverty particularly in Zambia’s rural areas. Most of the studies conducted focused on identifying factors which limit participation in agriculture finance from the bank’s perspective and not farmers. Therefore, this study sought to fill the gap and assess variables directly related to smallholder farmers access to finance. It further examines the dynamism of access to finance depending on location, gender and transport infrastructure. The data employed in the study was obtained from a survey conducted in 2013 by IAPRI and UNZA with a sample size of 1,231 households in six districts of Zambia. Agricultural credit for small holder farmers (SHFs) in rural areas is mostly provided in the form of cash or in kind through supply of inputs to these SHFs. This data was modeled based on the logistic regression. The results showed that 14.1% of the SHFs had access to finance. Among these farmers only 13% were female. In addition, secondary education, access to finance information, farm size, access to collateral and distance between the location of the farmer and the financial services, were significant factors in determining access to credit. A recommendation proposed to policy makers based on results presented include sensitization on various finance facilities available to rural farmers so that they are aware and can make necessary efforts to access the finance. Rural education is directly related to access to finance, therefore government should promote education for its citizens. Lack of collateral has been identified as a factor that gravely hinders access levels by most. Government should implement standardized policies that ensure availability of credit to farmers with little or no collateral. In conclusion, improved credit permeation in agriculture sector promotes sustainable and inclusive growth in Zambia and will eventually eradicate absolute poverty.

Agriculture is the single most important sector in Malawi due to its contribution to the economy ranging from employment creation, contribution to GDP growth to source of foreign exchange earnings. These significant contributions have necessitated the Government of Malawi to develop strategies and policies such as the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP), whose main aim is to increase household incomes and reduce food insecurity and ultimately reduce poverty. It is nine years since the introduction of FISP but its results remain mixed. Using the 2009/10 Integrated Household Survey Phase 3 (IHS3) dataset, a logistic regression in a multivariate data analysis approach was used to investigate the impact of FISP on income levels and food security of rural smallholder farmers in Malawi. The analysis showed that about 82 percent of smallholder farmers live in rural areas, about 75 percent of them were males, 71 percent were married, 70 percent did not go to school and 69 percent benefited from FISP. In farming, 68 percent of these smallholder farmers had less than 1 hectare of farms, 70 percent of them had labour force of less than 5 people, 51 percent of them harvest less than 5 bags of 50kgs of maize of which 92 percent sell most of their harvested maize and 89 percent of them receive less than MK5, 000 from sales. In addition, about 99 percent of these smallholder farmers were food insecure as they save less than 1 bag of 50kgs after harvest. Only 1 percent of these smallholder farmers receive remittances and 21 percent had other income generating activities (IGAs). Demographic and socio-economic factors have no impact on these farmers capability to increase income levels and enhance their food security. There is also no statistically significant difference between FISP beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in terms of capabilities of increasing incomes and enhancing food security. It is, therefore, concluded that FISP had no significant impact on the abilities of these smallholder farmers to increase their incomes and enhancing their food security. Hence, FISP did not prove to be the best food security and poverty alleviation tool in Malawi.

The electron-electron interaction is the origin of many interesting phenomena in condensed matter. These phenomena post challenges to theoretical physics and can lead to important future applications. Transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures provide excellent platforms to study these phenomena because of the two-dimensional nature, large effective mass and tunable bandwidth with moiré potential. As electron bands become narrower such that the Coulomb interaction energy becomes comparable to the bandwidth, interactions can drive new quantum phases. This dissertation describes the realization of this platform and probing of correlated phenomena with low- temperature transport measurements. As the first step, the electrical contact problem of few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides, which prohibits low-temperature transport measurements, needs to be solved. Two different contact schemes have been used to attack this problem. For p-type transition metal dichalcogenide, prepatterned platinum is used to bottom contact transition metal dichalcogenides. This method prevents channel from deterioration due to electron beam evaporation and the high workfunction platinum can place the Fermi level underneath the material valence band. Alternatively, for n-type transition metal dichalcogenides, a single layer of boron nitride is put on transition metal dichalcogenide before cobalt evaporation. This way, the boron nitride layer protects the transition metal dichalcogenide from the process of evaporation and can decrease the work function of cobalt thus putting Fermi level above the conduction band. With these contact methods, Ohmic contacts can be achieved at cryogenic temperature and probing the transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures with transport measurements become accessible. Then, the magnetotransport properties of monolayer molybdenum disulphide and bilayer tungsten diselenide encapsulated with boron nitride with graphite dual-gate were measured. There are three unique features underlie this two dimensional electron gas system. First, the system is strong correlated. The Landau level spectrum reveals strong correlated signatures, such as enhanced spin-orbit coupling splitting and enhanced effective g-factor. Second, the longitudinal resistance/conductance at half-filling of Landau levels are found to depend on the spin orientation. The minority spin Landau level become totally localized at higher magnetic field. Third, in bilayer device the two layers are weak coupled and can be independently controlled by two gates. All this features establish transition metal dichalcogenide a unique platform for studying correlated physics. Finally, to achieve higher level of correlation, two layers of tungsten diselenide are stacked together with a small twist angle. With the help of moiré potential and layer hybridization, the bandwidth can be continuously tuned by the twist angle. In the range of 3 degree to 5.1degree, with moderate correlation strength, correlated insulating states are shown at half-filled flatband and are highly tunable with vertical electric field.

The research is based on fieldwork in the Johannesburg East District where fifteen teachers from different schools participated. The teachers were from a variety of backgrounds in teaching the subject. Each of the teachers voluntarily completed an open-ended questionnaire that was based on their own interpretation of the setting of formal assessment tests or examinations. Document analysis was performed on the preliminary theory examinations that were set by the teachers using an adapted form of Krathwohl‟s two-dimensional taxonomy which was made specific for CAT. The teachers were requested to supply an example of a taxonomy which they themselves had used when analyzing the preliminary theory examination according to cognitive levels. The research findings were derived from the responses to the questionnaires that indicated the teachers‟ opinions about the setting of formal assessments as well as from formal test papers the teachers provided. The vast majority of the participant teachers used examinations set by others, either those purchased from publishers or publically accessible past papers downloaded from the internet with minimal change. It appears that the teachers did not use any taxonomy of cognitive levels even when they designed their own question papers. The cognitive level addressed was primarily memorisation and recall. The teachers were more concerned about the format and style of their examination papers than the cognitive levels the papers addressed. Additionally the overwhelming majority did not believe that training in assessment design would be of value to them (as experienced teachers), although some suggested that such training may be useful for beginning teachers. This suggests that further research on the teachers‟ experiences in using taxonomies when setting formal assessments, as well as potential in-service training interventions that address their knowledge of cognitive levels and appropriate assessments is needed. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Chick feeding tests were conducted to study the effects of dietary imbalances among the three branched chain amino acids on growth rate. All diets fed in these tests contained about 18% protein. The indispensable amino acids (IAA) were found in two of the diets fed in the proportions found by Dobson et al. (1964) to be well balanced. One of the diets had all IAA at 85% of these balanced levels while the other had them all at 125% of these levels. The tests involved reducing the isoleucine, leucine and valine levels in the high IAA diet to the low levels in all combinations. Growth rates were similar with the diets containing all ten IAA at the low levels, all ten at the high levels, or seven at the high levels and isoleucine, leucine and valine at the low levels. Generally, when only one or two of these three were reduced to the low levels, growth rates were lower. Thus there appeared to be a three-way interaction among these amino acids with the reduction in weight gain being the result of an imbalance and not of a deficiency. The changes in growth rate noted when the leucine level was reduced indicated that the leucine level in Dobson's balanced diet was relatively high; the isoleucine level appeared to be relatively low. The interaction between leucine and valine appeared to be more significant than the other two two-way interactions. The effect of dietary level of these amino acids on the branched chain amino acid transaminase (BAT) activity in the liver and kidneys was determined. The differences noted were inconsistent. There tended to be a slightly higher activity in chicks fed the high levels of these amino acids, but the differences certainly were not as great as the changes in arginase activity reported by others when imbalanced diets were fed. Chicks fed the diet low in valine and high in the other nine IAA were selected for fast or slow growth on this diet. They were raised to maturity and produced eggs that were hatched for feeding tests with the diets containing different levels of the branched chain amino acids. Only a limited number of chicks from the two strains were hatched. Performance of the chicks was similar to that of their parents when fed the low valine diet.

The purpose of the present study was two-fold: (1) to investigate various degrees of counselor-offered empathy in initial interviews, in order to determine whether consistently high levels of counselor-- offered empathy in the initial therapy interview causes high levels of client anxiety, and (2) to determine whether increased client anxiety or the levels of counselor-offered empathy that the client receives in the initial counseling interview affects the client's likelihood to continue in counseling following one session. To accomplish the purpose of the study 27 high-anxiety and 27 low-anxiety undergraduate, incentive volunteers were seen in an initial counseling session by one of three psychology, graduate-student counselors. During the interview the counselor offered the clients one of three predetermined levels of empathy (high, medium, or low). The subject's state-anxiety level was measured prior to the interview and during the interview by two paper and pencil, self-report measures, and also by heart rate. The likelihood to continue in counseling following the initial interview was also measured by a specially designed questionnaire. Results revealed that there were no differences between the anxiety scores of the subjects receiving high, medium, or low counselor-offered empathy. No relationship was found to exist between the subjects' anxiety scores and their choice to terminate or continue counseling after the initial interview. However, an interaction effect upon the subjects' likelihood to continue in counseling was found to exist between their trait anxiety level and the level of counselor-offered empathy which they received.

Sporadic problems with pink color defect, or pinking, has occurred in cooked meat products for decades. Pink color can be due to the presence of undenatured myoglobin, denatured globin hemochromes, or nitrosylhemochrome. This research documented the level of added nitrite that produced nitrosylhemochrome in processed meat rolls from fabricated beef round, pork shoulder, turkey breast, and chicken breast. For each meat type, preliminary studies were conducted to narrow the range at which added nitrite caused pinking. Subsequently, the nitrite levels were increased incrementally by 1-ppm, and pink color was measured by trained panelists and by a Hunter color meter. Nitrosylhemochrome content was determined by acetone extraction. Panel and instrumental measurements identified pink color in beef samples formulated with 14-ppm nitrite; nitrosohemochrome extracts detected pigment at 12- ppm. Nitrite levels that caused pinking in pork shoulder were much lower than in beef. Panelists identified pink color at 4-ppm nitrite, and Hunter color meter values showed increased redness at 6-ppm. Pigment extraction detected nitrosylhemochrome at 4- ppm added nitrite. The trained panel and Hunter color meter detected pink color in turkey breast at 2-ppm added nitrite; nitrosohemochrome extraction detected pink pigment at 3-ppm added nitrite. In chicken breast, pink color was detected visually and instrumentally at 1-ppm added nitrite. Pigment extraction detected nitrosylhemochrome at 2-ppm added nitrite. Lower levels of nitrite (1-3-ppm) caused pinking in light-colored meats (turkey and chicken breast, meats with total pigment between 19-ppm and 27-ppm). Higher levels of nitrite (5-14-ppm) caused pink color defect in dark pigmented meat (beef round and pork shoulder, meats with total pigment levels between 56-ppm and 147-ppm). Regression analysis was used to relate total pigment and the minimum level of nitrite causing pinking. The minimum nitrite level causing pinking was the lowest level of nitrite at which the trained panel, acetone extraction, and instrumental results detected pink color or nitrosyl pigment. The formula obtained from the model was as follows: Y = 0.092X + 0.53, where "Y" is the minimum level of added nitrite to cause pinking and "X" is the total pigment of the meat. This formula can be used to estimate the level of nitrite that can be expected to cause pinking in a wide range of pigmented meats.

The purpose of this paper is to calculate a method of estimating minimum dairy farm sizes for specific income levels. A survey of a sample of Utah dairy farmers was conducted to obtain data to calculate a long run average cost schedule. Dairy farmers who had just recently built new facilities and with varying sized herds were interviewed. Individual costs were studied to establish their effect on the long run average cost curve. Different average revenue curves for varying prices and production levels were used to establish minimum cow numbers needed to give s pecified incomes and growth potentials. Marginal analysis was used to establish the most efficient methods of growth, i.e., cow numbers, herd production and blend price.

Corn dry matter and grain yields were evaluated for 40 unique limited irrigation treatments and compared to a standard nonlimited treatment. The various treatments were imposed by an interaction of time (i.e., growth stage) and water level . Irrigation was so scheduled that each treatment received water at evaporative demand rates during either the vegetative or the pollination stage . The total irrigation water applied for the growing season ranged from 11 em to 43 em. Dry matter and grain yields were essentially the same for all treatments. Limited irrigation in the vegetative stage did not reduce growth if there were no further limitations in the pollination stage Limited irrigation in the pollination stage did not result in yield reductions if there were no limitations in the vegetative stage. Limited irrigation in the maturity stage did not effect yields if there were no limitations in the vegetative stage and/or the pollination stage. Chronic, season long irrigation deficiencies resulted in yield reductions. In each case, the soil water profile was full at the outset of the growing season. The silt loam soil of the experimental site was able to supply sufficient water to the plants during periods of nonirrigation or limited irrigation . The corn plants responded to available water, whether it was supplied by irrigation or the soil . Limited irrigation was effective in saving irrigation resources without reducing yields. Some of the variables which appeared to have a significant effect on yield response to limited irrigation included : beginning soil water status, soil water storage capacity, timing of irrigation, and corn hybrid and climatic interactions. Management decisions relating to limited irrigation on corn should not be made independent of these factors.