The teaching strategies in the mathematics teaching component focus on key elements of mathematics teaching practices. The neglect of mathematics by biologists is all the more deplorable in light of the essential role that mathematical formalisms play in all science.
I believe that the coming decade will demonstrate very clearly that mathematics is the future frontier of biology and biology is the future frontier of mathematics.5. In this commentary I want to consider whether the role of mathematics goes beyond 'sports and games' in economics and reflect on some of the ways in which mathematics is used in economics in general and in South African economics in particular.
Mathematics in microeconomic theory
Interestingly, students trained in economics tend to conform to the 'rational agent' model more closely than most people, suggesting once again that economic theory has the potential to influence the actual behavior of the agents it purports to describe. It therefore differs from some of the theories to be discussed below, which insist that agents must be able to learn some of the 'global' properties of the system in which they are embedded.
Mathematics in macroeconomic theory
Many "evolutionary" game-theoretic models have explicitly considered less-than-perfectly rational agents that learn from experience. Finally, many authors have begun to integrate the analysis of human preferences and human behavior into a broader account of human evolution. 6 This work focuses attention on the culture in which agents operate and shows how this affects the kinds of behaviors, perhaps.
Mathematics in applied research
Some of the equations in the model are estimated, but many of the key parameters are 'calibrated', i.e. the behavior of the model depends on its structure, the parameters that are chosen and how it is 'shocked'.
Mathematics in teaching
Unfortunately, these models are quite opaque and the constitutive equations are often not made available. The larger the model, the better it should be able to capture the actual behavior, but the more 'degrees of freedom' there are in adjusting parameters to get the desired output.
Mathematics in South African economics
The main objective of this commentary is to argue for the position of computer, mathematical and statistical sciences in South Africa at the heart of the predicted big data revolution. This could lead to a renewal and rejuvenation of the mathematical and statistical sciences in South Africa and facilitate the collaboration and convergence of researchers to work on problems at the boundaries or intersections of the respective disciplines.
Background and terminology
The field of data science we are considering is a superset of the fields of statistics and machine learning, adding some technology to "scaling" to "big data". These disciplines are strategically important to provide a solid intellectual and academic foundation on which to build a vibrant and successful project in big data analytics, particularly in South Africa.
Big data challenges
Big data techniques
The analysis of the data must be as efficient and cost-effective (in time, resources, etc.) as possible. Many of the big data techniques often used to effectively process large amounts of data are based on some of the mathematical and statistical concepts implicit in the previous section and others.
Mathematical and statistical challenges
Future directions
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
An empirical biotic index of water quality in South African streams and rivers. Cereal grains include some of the most important crops grown in South Africa and play an important role in the local economy.
Introduction
We provide a comprehensive overview of mycotoxic Fusarium species associated with cereal crops in South Africa, with particular reference to maize, wheat and sorghum. Mycotoxic Fusarium species adversely affect the main staple food crops grown in South Africa.
Grain crops in South Africa
Sorghum is indigenous to Africa and is considered a staple food in many rural communities in South Africa. In South Africa, sorghum cultivars are divided into three classes: The GM class includes sweet sorghum with a low tannin content, which is particularly suitable for malting and milling purposes;
Mycotoxigenic Fusarium species affecting South African grains
Sorghum is the fourth most important cereal crop produced in South Africa, after maize, wheat and barley, and the third most important food cereal.2,28 Barley is mostly used for malting purposes in beer production and is not considered a major food crop in South Africa. The lower toxicity of these mycotoxins and the relative complexity of multi-mycotoxin analysis54 limits the amount of data available on their occurrence in South African grains.
Role of mycotoxins in plant disease development
ZEA and TCT-B, however, have been found in both maize and wheat locally,20,44 but at higher levels and more frequently in maize than in wheat. Some of the same Fusarium species have also been associated with oats, millet or other less important cereals such as amaranth.
Impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health
Management of mycotoxigenic Fusarium species
No fungicides are registered for control of Fusarium grain diseases on maize, wheat or sorghum in South Africa.104 However, triazole fungicides such as metconazole and tebuconazole have been shown to control FHB and DON contamination in wheat.105 Control of mycotoxic Fusarium species in maize with fungicides, however, it is difficult, as the ears are covered by dense husks, which prevent contact with ear rot pathogens. Field trials in South Africa have reported no significant differences in the colonization of maize kernels by F.
Discussion
Mapping studies have previously identified QTLs associated with resistance to FER and FUM contamination in maize.117,118 However, studies to identify possible QTLs for resistance to grain blight in sorghum have been less frequent but have shown some success.119 -121 Unconventional methods of combating plant diseases are becoming more common. These efforts should be particularly focused in subsistence farming communities where mycotoxicosis poses a real threat to public health, as a high incidence of esophageal cancer in the Transkei region of South Africa has been directly linked to high FUM contamination.82.
Authors’ contributions
Genetic analysis of the role of trichothecene and fumonisin mycotoxins in Fusarium virulence. Natural occurrence of Fusarium species and fumonisin production by toxigenic strains from poultry feeds in Argentina.
Introduction and background
We conducted a historical review of wheat cultivar improvements in South Africa from 1891 to 2013, extending the period of previous analyses. A database of sources and uses of wheat cultivar innovations in South Africa has been developed using information from the above sources.
Review of commercial wheat production and breeding in South Africa
Source: South African Grain Information Services 12
Another addition in the current study is the provision of institutional development of wheat breeding, which was not included in the article by Smita et al.5. Also, despite listing varieties released from 1983 to 2008, Smit et al.5 do not provide a detailed historical development of wheat variety improvements in the country.
Data and research methods
In this study, we followed a similar approach to develop a comprehensive database of wheat variety improvements in South Africa. Furthermore, the focus of Smit et al.5 was more agronomic, while the current paper focuses more on the economic side of wheat breeding development during the study period.
Results and discussion
Although Pannar was founded in 1958, it began to become involved in the improvement of wheat varieties in the 1990s and remains one of the top three players in wheat breeding in South Africa. Most of South Africa's wheat innovation must be credited to him and his team.
Figure 3: Classification of wheat varietal breeders in South Africa: 1891–2013
Figure 4: Number of wheat varieties released in South Africa between 1891 and 2013
Since the deregulation of the wheat sector, the ARC-SGI budget for wheat has steadily declined, reflecting reduced government funding for wheat variety improvement. The most popular ARC–SGI varieties identified for further analysis of the attribution of costs and benefits of wheat variety improvements were Gariep, Eland and Duzi.
Conclusions and recommendations
These varieties have performed well in the commercial market and have been classified as dominant national varieties by the South African Grain Laboratory. A review of the context and scope of wheat (Triticum aestivum) research in South Africa from 1983 to 2008.
Chert samples, in-situ steady-state concentrations and a maximum age
Using the parameters for calc2 to Figure 1: Chert data from Granger et al.1 and their correlation with in situ resulted in 10Be and 26Al abundances in the deposit hosting StW573. a). In the latter, an increase in in situ production rates is taken into account (Figure 1a).
Exploring a two-stage burial scenario
Thus, the age for StW573 could be much younger than the cosmogenic burial age of the sediments now associated with the Silberberg Cave fossil. Developments in the production of economic doctorates at four research-intensive universities in South Africa.
Literature review
In this paper, we discuss what the economic discipline has to do with the quality of the doctoral dissertation and whether the increased use of the doctoral dissertation in the form of publication shifts the goals. The quality of doctoral education in these environments is investigated with open-ended questionnaires for former heads of departments (phase 2).
Research approach
Quantitative data analysis University sample selection
Questionnaires
Results
A rapidly growing percentage of the economics PhDs were in the PhD by publication format at Stellenbosch University. A fixed percentage (29%) of the economics PhDs at the University of the Witwatersrand were through publication.
Purpose of this study
The power law of cities in South Africa over corporate wealth extends across space and time. The term entrepreneurial wealth has been proposed to describe the abundance of entrepreneurial types in cities4.
Research on small towns in South Africa
Regional analysis
It is located in the southern Cape of South Africa and covers a large area from the coast over the Langeberg Mountains to the Kleine Karoo, and even partly over the Swartberg Mountains. Several major routes cross the biosphere: the N2 and R62 from west to east, and the N9 and N12 (both state highways) from south to north.
Time-based analysis of enterprise structures
The entrepreneurial wealth in 2012/2013 of Free State cities showed a statistically significant (p<0.01) log-log (i.e. power law) relationship with the total number of enterprises (Figure 1). The ratio of total enterprises to enterprise wealth of the Free State towns in 1946/1947 ranged from 3:3 for Deneysville to 947:136 for Bloemfontein (Table 4).
Discussion and conclusions
We present experimental results of emission factors from a set of coal-burning domestic warehouses (lab-fabricated and field-collected) spanning the potential range of real-world uses in the Highveld region of South Africa. The reported emission factors from coal stockpiles provide the first comprehensive and systematic set of emission factors for this source category and fill a major gap in previous attempts to conduct air quality dispersion modeling of the South African Highveld.
Materials and methodology
Knowing the rate of fuel combustion (mass loss) and concentrations of exhaust components, we determined the levels of exhaust gas emissions during lamp operation, per hour of operation (table 6) and for the entire 3-hour combustion sequence (table 7). There were differences in overall average CO emission rates between stoves and firing methods.
Conclusions and implications
Proceedings of the Domestic Use of Energy (DUE) Conference; 2015 March 31 – April 2; Cape Town, South Africa. Of the schools surveyed in Ugu District, the prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis was found to be over 50% and the same was applied by the schools for soil-transmitted helminthiasis.
Materials and methods
Fortunately, all the samples are largely free of the toxic elements As, Pb, Hg, Cd, Se and Sb. This band is missing in the spectrum of sample W2, confirming the XRD result of the absence of kaolinite.
Background
The antiquity of the use of hunting poison has received much attention in recent years. It is considered to be of the same age (± 90 years), and most likely to be part of the same collection.
Poison on a Hei||om arrow
TOF MS ES+
All four previously published toxins (lycorine, caranin, crinamine and acetylcaranin) were identified in our Ammocharis coranica extract. Two of the three plants used in the control sample venom were correctly identified as A.
