scholarly journals The avifauna of Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian J.F.K. Craig ◽  
Charlene Bissett ◽  
Mark D. Galpin ◽  
Bryan Olver ◽  
Pat E. Hulley

A protected area since 1999, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve incorporates several former farms, for which past records of bird occurrences are available. No bird species appear to have been lost from the area. Between 2001 and 2005, a group of observers conducted systematic bird surveys in most months, which allowed the status (resident, migrant or irregular visitor) of most bird species to be determined. At least three species have established breeding populations in the reserve over the past 10 years. Of 302 species reliably recorded to date, 182 (60.3%) appear to be resident, 46 (15.2%) are seasonal migrants and 74 (24.5%) are vagrant visitors. Eight vulnerable and eight near-threatened bird species have been recorded; Blue Crane, Kori Bustard and African Crowned Eagle have bred in the reserve. Together with other state-owned and private protected areas in this region, this reserve holds a significant portion of the inland bird species recorded from the Eastern Cape.Conservation implications: The varied thicket vegetation types of the Great Fish River Valley support a considerable diversity of bird species. If these habitats are managed for biodiversity conservation, they can support a large component of the terrestrial avifauna of the Eastern Cape region.

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Marcos Pérsio Dantas Santos

This study analyzes the ornithological data available for the Brazilian state of Roraima, focusing on sampling gaps. All ornithological data collected in Roraima up to the present were collated with the aim of answering the following questions: (a) which sites have been well sampled? (b) Are there are any geographic gaps? (c) What is the current extent of the scientific knowledge of avian diversity in Roraima? (d); Which regions and vegetation types have been well-sampled, and which should be prioritized for future surveys? Ornithological data were obtained from a total of 82 localities, including the Maracá Ecological Station (442 species), Viruá National Park (420 species), Colônia do Apiaú (320 species), Mucajaí (267 species), and Pacaráima (212 species), which were the five sites with the highest species counts. Over the past 20 years, only two localities in Roraima have been added to the list of sites with reliable samples (at least 100 bird species recorded (study skins collected, tape recordings and undocumented field observations) , the Viruá National Park and Fazenda Paraense. Five regions of the state were identified as sampling gaps, and should be prioritized in future ornithological surveys: the northwest, on the border with Venezuela and the Brazilian state of Amazonas, the lower Rio Branco between the town of Caracaraí and the mouth of the river, the terra firme forests of the southeast, the savannas of the northeast, on the border with Guyana, and the northern highlands, including montane forest and tepuis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-224
Author(s):  
ʿĀʾiḍ B. Sad Al-Dawsarī

The story of Lot is one of many shared by the Qur'an and the Torah, and Lot's offer of his two daughters to his people is presented in a similar way in the two books. This article compares the status of Lot in the Qur'an and Torah, and explores the moral dimensions of his character, and what scholars of the two religions make of this story. The significance of the episodes in which Lot offers his daughters to his people lies in the similarities and differences of the accounts given in the two books and the fact that, in both the past and the present, this story has presented moral problems and criticism has been leveled at Lot. Context is crucial in understanding this story, and exploration of the ways in which Lot and his people are presented is also useful in terms of comparative studies of the two scriptures. This article is divided into three sections: the first explores the depiction of Lot in the two texts, the second explores his moral limitations, and the third discusses the interpretations of various exegetes and scholars of the two books. Although there are similarities between the Qur'anic and Talmudic accounts of this episode, it is read differently by scholars from the two religions because of the different contexts of the respective accounts.


10.31355/12 ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 063-071
Author(s):  
Agyei Fosu

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE. Aim/Purpose................................................................................................................................................................................................. The main aim of the study is to identify some of the barriers to the integration of technology into the teaching of mathematics in high schools. Background................................................................................................................................................................................................. Writing on chalkboards as a method of transferring knowledge is a key feature of traditional approach to teaching may have been successful in the past, but the minds of the current generation vary from those of the previous generation. Today’s students are immersed in technology. They are much more up-to-date on the latest technology and gadgets. Technology has certainly changed how students access and integrate information, so it plausible that technology has also changed the way students thinks. Growing up with cutting-edge technologies has left them thinking differently than students of past generations. This call for new innovative approaches to teaching that will cater to the students of today. Of course it is not wise to discard the traditional way of teaching that the past teachers have painstakingly created because of its past and some current success. This is why it is recommended to use this approach as a base for the new ones. Thus, if there is a way to transfer the advantages of this approach of teaching to new innovative approach then teachers should do everything in their power to merge the past and the present into one innovative teaching approach. Methodology................................................................................................................................................................................................. Purposeful sampling was used to survey a total of 116 high school mathematics teachers in the former Transkei Homelands. But only 97 questionnaires were deemed usable because of the way they have answered the questions. Microsoft excel was used in the descriptive statistics Contribution................................................................................................................................................................................................. To identify some barriers that need to be addressed by stakeholders, policy makers in high school education so that high school mathematics teachers will be able to integrate technology into their classroom teaching to meet today students’ learning needs. Findings...................................................................................................................................................................................................... The results indicated that the participating teachers need to be trained and supported in the use of the new technologies applicable to teaching mathematics. Recommendations for Practitioners.......................................................................................................................................................... The Eastern Cape department of education needs to consider the lacked of technology training as a barrier to the integration of technology into the teaching of mathematics and take necessary steps to address it. Recommendation for Researchers........................................................................................................................................................... There is the need to explore in depth whether the factors of gender and age also act as barriers. Impact on Society....................................................................................................................................................................................... The research will assist stakeholders, policy makers of high school education to identify the needs of mathematics teachers. That is to say, the skill sets, experience and expertise, as well as teaching equipment and classroom design and environment required by mathematics teachers. Future Research........................................................................................................................................................................................... More work needs to be done to check whether gender, age of the teachers have some effects on their attitude towards technology integration as well as evaluate the role played by choice of teaching methodology and teaching objectives.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hunud Abia Kadouf ◽  
Umar Aimhanosi Oseini ◽  
Ainul Jaria Maidin

The primary function of Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Laws, at the very beginning of its inception, was that of teaching civil law and Sharî’ah subjects. As it matured, its vision has been varied from teaching to that of research with the aim of attaining the status of a full research institution that provides both quality research and best legal education in the region. Similar to other institutions of higher education in Malaysia, the responsibility of research is a shared function of both graduate students and the academic staff. The research output, on the part of the students is mostly composed of either Master Dissertations or PhD Theses. The academic members of the Faculty, however, are involved either in direct research, individually or jointly, supervision, and publications of their findings. By investigating and analyzing factors influencing research activities at AIKOL in the past twenty years, the researchers will be able to identify the general trends and development of research as it unfolded over years. The researchers hope that the policymakers, at both Faculty and University levels, will use the findings to improve research quality by boldly addressing the problems hampering research progress at AIKOL.


2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (11) ◽  
pp. 334-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Mollet ◽  
Niklaus Zbinden ◽  
Hans Schmid

Results from the monitoring programs of the Swiss Ornithological Institute show that the breeding populations of several forest species for which deadwood is an important habitat element (black woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, three-toed woodpecker as well as crested tit, willow tit and Eurasian tree creeper) have increased in the period 1990 to 2008, although not to the same extent in all species. At the same time the white-backed woodpecker extended its range in eastern Switzerland. The Swiss National Forest Inventory shows an increase in the amount of deadwood in forests for the same period. For all the mentioned species, with the exception of green and middle spotted woodpecker, the growing availability of deadwood is likely to be the most important factor explaining this population increase.


Author(s):  
Caroline Fleay

Throughout the past forty years various leaders from both major political parties in Australia have categorized the arrival by boat of people seeking asylum as a “crisis” and the people themselves as “illegal.” This is despite Australia being a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and receiving relatively few people who seek asylum compared with many other countries. Punitive government policies and processes have further reinforced these representations, such that “crisis” and “illegal” can now be understood as both categories of analysis and practice. The repeated use of such categories may be helping to produce and reproduce prejudice and racism and obscure the needs and experiences of people seeking asylum.


Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Verónica Motta ◽  
Miguel A. García-Aspeitia ◽  
Alberto Hernández-Almada ◽  
Juan Magaña ◽  
Tomás Verdugo

The accelerated expansion of the Universe is one of the main discoveries of the past decades, indicating the presence of an unknown component: the dark energy. Evidence of its presence is being gathered by a succession of observational experiments with increasing precision in its measurements. However, the most accepted model for explaining the dynamic of our Universe, the so-called Lambda cold dark matter, faces several problems related to the nature of such energy component. This has led to a growing exploration of alternative models attempting to solve those drawbacks. In this review, we briefly summarize the characteristics of a (non-exhaustive) list of dark energy models as well as some of the most used cosmological samples. Next, we discuss how to constrain each model’s parameters using observational data. Finally, we summarize the status of dark energy modeling.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingling Shi ◽  
Xinping Liu

Since the 21st century, the concept of green building has been gradually popularized and implemented in more countries, which has become a popular direction in the area of sustainability in the building industry. Over the past few decades, many scholars and experts have done extensive research on green building. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze and visualize the status quo of green building. Therefore, based on Web of Science (WoS), this paper analyzed the existing knowledge system of green building using CiteSpace, identified keywords related to green building and their frequency of occurrence using the function of keyword co-occurrence analysis, recognized five clusters using the function of cluster analysis, and explored the knowledge evolution pattern of green building using citation bursts analysis in order to reveal how research related to green building has evolved over time. On the basis of aforementioned keywords, clusters, and citation bursts analysis, this paper has built a knowledge graph for green building. This paper can help readers to better understand the status quo and development trend of green building and to easier recognize the shortcomings in the development of green building, so as to provide a promising direction for future research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Shields

This article considers the ethical implications of a stance toward or relation with the natural environment that could be characterized as dominant across many sectors of not only the economy but consumption patterns generally. Despite popular perception or denial of climate change over the past decades, this is an implicit relation toward the collateral risks and damages to ecosystems by human activity. Not only are livelihoods sustained on the basis of natural resources but the direct costs of hydrocarbon development are borne locally in the environment. For some, this is understood to be without a personal cost despite the fears expressed. The article quotes from interviews with residents. It stages a broader, continuing conversation about the ambivalence of being dependent on hydrocarbons. This article explores the difficulty of developing an ethical engagement with the nonhuman and natural ecosystems when they are relegated to the status of what will be referred to as “bare nature.” Rather than state of exception or standing reserve, nonhuman nature is only present as a form of absence and as nonentities and does not present an ethical challenge or claim.


1951 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Pollock

In presenting my valedictory to this distinguished Association which has honored me by selecting me as its President, I should like to point out by way of introduction what has happened to this office, and therefore to me, during the past year. I have heard of one of my distinguished predecessors some twenty-five years ago who had little else to do as President of this Association than work all year on his presidential address. This was important work and I have no word of criticism of it. But the Association has changed, and today it leaves to the harried wearer of its presidential toga little time to reflect about the status of political science and his own impact, if any, upon it. An active Association life, now happily centered in our new Washington office, is enough to occupy the full time of your President, and universities as well as this Association might well take note. Therefore, in presenting my own reflections to you this evening in accordance with the custom of our Association, I do so without the benefit of the generous time and scholarly leisure which were the privileges of some of my distinguished predecessors.Nevertheless I do base my presidential address today upon my own active participation in the problems of government, as well as upon my scholarly experience. I have extracted it in part from the dynamics of pulsating political life. It has whatever authority I may possess after having been exposed these twenty-five years to the cross-fire of politics, domestic and foreign, as well as to the benign and corrective influences of eager students and charitable colleagues.


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