Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Recent Submissions
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Morpho-agronomic evaluation of lagenaria siceraria landraces and their F₁ populations
(MDPI, 2022)Lagenaria siceraria is one of the most important cucurbitaceous vegetables due to its prolific bearing habit, its edibility as a cooked vegetable, and its low cost of cultivation. The objective of this study was to evaluate ... -
A regression model for predicting the likelihood of reporting a crime based on the victim’s demographic variables and their perceptions towards the police
(De Gruyter, 2020)Despite the growing criminal activities in South Africa,many victims still do not report the crimes, therefore there was a need to understand the determinants of the likelihood of reporting a crime in the country. Binary ... -
Anthelmintic potency of Rumex crispus L. extracts against Caenorhabditis elegans and non-targeted identification of the bioactive compounds
(Elsevier, 2021)Traditional healers and ethnoveterinary therapists use several medicinal plants, such as Rumex crispus L., to treat endoparasite infections. R. crispus has been established by researchers to be effective agasint a few ... -
Research progression of the Genus Merremia: a comprehensive review on the nutritional value, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicity
(MDPI, 2021)The genus Merremia Dennst. ex Endl. (Convolvulaceae) is a rich source of structurally diverse phytochemicals with therapeutic relevance. This review presents the first comprehensive, up-to-date information and research ... -
South African wild fruits and vegetables under a changing climate: the implications on health and economy
(Elsevier, 2021)Overdependence on exotic plant species constitutes a major setback for the consumption of wild fruits and vegetables among South Africans. The country is not spared from the adverse effects of climate change which play a ... -
Global trends of green pesticide research from 1994 to 2019: a bibliometric analysis
(Journal of Toxicology, 2021)The fast-growing world population places food production under enormous pressure to ensure food security. One of the most common methods to increase food production is the use of pesticides, but the continuous use thereof ... -
Convolution algebra for extended Feller convolution
(Springer, 2020)We apply the recently introduced framework of admissible homomorphisms in the form of a convolution algebra of C2-valued admissible homomorphisms to handle two-dimensional uni-directional homogeneous stochastic kernels. ... -
Comments on: Tests for multivariate normalit: a critical review with emphasis on weighted L2 -statistics
(Springer, 2020)We discuss extension of the BHEP test to more general families of distributions -
Ten research questions to support South Africa’s Inland Fisheries Policy
(Taylor & Francis, 2020)South Africa is in the process of developing a National Freshwater (Inland) Wild Capture Fisheries Policy. A properly focused research strategy is essential to guide the policy development process, and thus a dedicated ... -
Chitosan composite biomaterials for bone tissue engineering: a review
(Springer, 2020)The bone is a highly dynamic tissue with the remarkable ability to remodel and is in a continuous cycle of resorption and renewal as a result of internal mediators and external mechanical demands. Researchers have doubled ... -
Methylene blue analogues: in vitro antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentrations and in silico pharmacophore modelling
(Elsevier, 2020)It has been shown that methylene blue has antimicrobial properties although few studies have determined its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), which is the gold standard used to measure antimicrobial activity. The ... -
Stable isotope dynamics of herbivorous reef fishes and their ectoparasites
(MDPI, 2020)Acanthurids (surgeonfishes) are an abundant and diverse group of herbivorous fishes on coral reefs. While their contribution to trophic linkages and dynamics in coral reef systems has received considerable attention, the ... -
Cytotoxicity, phytochemical, antiparasitic screening, and antioxidant activities of mucuna pruriens (Fabaceae)
(MDPI, 2020)This study aimed at assessing the biological activities of Mucuna pruriens seeds using cytotoxicity, phytochemical, antiparasitic screening, and antioxidant assays. Mature fruits of M. pruriens were harvested from Fort ... -
Compositional turnover in ecto- and endoparasite assemblages of an African bat, Miniopterus natalensis (Chiroptera, Miniopteridae): effects of hierarchical scale and host sex
(Cambridge Univ Press, 2020)We studied the compositional turnover in infracommunities and component communities of ecto- and endoparasites infesting a bat, Miniopterus natalensis (Chiroptera, Miniopteridae), across seven sampling sites using the zeta ... -
Skills’ sets and shared benefits: perceptions of resettled people from the Yangtze-Huai River Diversion Project in China
(Taylor & Francis, 2020)Development induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) projects should share their benefits with those affected by them. This paper shows that in the case of the Yangtze-Huai River Diversion Project in China perceptions ... -
Zooplankton composition of temporary pools within the lower Nata River channel, Botswana, during dry season
(Taylor & Francis, 2020)The Nata River is a seasonal system situated in the semi-arid north-eastern Botswana, where rainfall is unpredictable and drought is common. The annual flow of approximately 279 million cubic meters is regionally significant ... -
Insult to injury-potential contribution of coronavirus disease-19 to neuroinflammation and the development of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders
(Mary Ann Liebert, 2020)Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus (CoV)-2 is responsible for a new coronavirus disease known as coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 reports neurotropic properties and may have neurological ... -
Mycobacterium tuberculosis curli pili (MTP) is associated with significant host metabolic pathways in an A549 epithelial cell infection model and contributes to the pathogenicity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Springer, 2020)Introduction A clear understanding of the metabolome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its target host cell during infection is fundamental for the development of novel diagnostic tools, effective drugs and vaccines ... -
Fast radio burst trains from magnetar oscillations
(IOP Publishing, 2020)Quasi-periodic oscillations inferred during rare magnetar giant flare tails were initially interpreted as torsional oscillations of the neutron star (NS) crust, and have been more recently described as global core+crust ... -
Uncertainties implicit to the use of the force-field solutions to the Parker transport equation in analyses of observed cosmic ray antiproton intensities
(APS, 2020)Spacecraft observations of cosmic ray antimatter intensities can potentially shed new light on previously unknown physics and hence play an essential role in the search for dark matter. At lower energies, however, these ...