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The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of cross-hedging in the South African soybean market, by using the JSE BEAN contract as a cross-hedge instrument for the JSE SOYA contract. The research study involves a detailed assessment of the data, which includes the use of stationarity tests such as the Phillips-Perron and Augmented Dickey-Fuller, as well as the Johansen co-integration approach to analyse long-term relationships between the variables. To evaluate the efficiency of cross-hedging strategies, three distinct hedging models are used: the ordinary least squares (OLS) model, error correction model (ECM) and EC-GARCH. The results demonstrate that these models produce significant hedge ratios. Through back-testing and the application of hedging strategies, it is determined that the JSE BEAN contract holds the potential to serve as a cross-hedge for the JSE SOYA contract in the South African soybean market. This study provides useful information for market participants and model selection in the context of cross-hedging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ex situ heart perfusion (ESHP) has emerged as an important strategy to preserve donation after brain death (DBD) and donation after circulatory death (DCD) donor hearts. Clinically, both DBD and DCD hearts are successfully preserved using ESHP. Viability assessment is currently based on biochemical values, while a reliable method for graft function assessment in a physiologic working mode is unavailable. As functional assessment during ESHP has demonstrated the highest predictive value of outcome post-transplantation, this is an important area for improvement. In this study, a novel method for ex situ assessment of left ventricular function with pressure-volume loop analyses is evaluated. Ovine hearts were functionally evaluated during normothermic ESHP with the novel pressure-volume loop system. This system provides an afterload and adjustable preload to the left ventricle. By increasing the preload and measuring end-systolic elastance, the system could successfully assess the left ventricular function. End-systolic elastance at 60 min and 120 min was 2.8 ± 1.8 mmHg/mL and 2.7 ± 0.7 mmHg/ mL, respectively. In this study we show a novel method for functional graft assessment with ex situ pressure-loop analyses during ESHP. When further validated, this method for pressure-volume assessments, could be used for better graft selection in both DBD and DCD donor hearts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study's aim was to explore and describe positive leisure activities in South African Batswana families. The research employed a qualitative, explorative-descriptive research design. The population included adult Tswana family members residing in Mafikeng in the North West Province of South Africa. Through the utilization of purposive sampling, the sample size (seven families consisting of 13 individual adult family members, three males and 10 females, mean age of 34) was determined through data saturation. Family semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings allude to five main themes: participants' understanding of family leisure, positive leisure activities families engage in, leisure activities families enjoy the most, the role of positive leisure activities, and the role played by leisure activities during Covid-19 and lockdown in 2020. Plain language summary: This study's aim was to explore and describe positive leisure activities in South African Batswana families. Family interviews were conducted with seven Tswana families' adult family members who reside in Mafikeng in the North West Province of South Africa. The findings identify five main themes: participants' understanding of family leisure, positive leisure activities families engage in, leisure activities families enjoy the most, the role of positive leisure activities, and the role played by leisure activities during Covid-19 and lockdown in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its discovery over two decades ago, the deep subsurface biosphere has been considered to be the realm of single-cell organisms, extending over three kilometres into the Earth's crust and comprising a significant fraction of the global biosphere (1-4). The constraints of temperature, energy, dioxygen and space seemed to preclude the possibility of more-complex, multicellular organisms from surviving at these depths. Here we report species of the phylum Nematoda that have been detected in or recovered from 0.9-3.6-kilometre-deep fracture water in the deep mines of South Africa but have not been detected in the mining water. These subsurface nematodes, including a new species, Halicephalobus mephisto, tolerate high temperature, reproduce asexually and preferentially feed upon subsurface bacteria. Carbon-14 data indicate that the fracture water in which the nematodes reside is 3,000-12,000-year-old palaeometeoric water. Our data suggest that nematodes should be found in other deep hypoxic settings where temperature permits, and that they may control the microbial population density by grazing on fracture surface biofilm patches. Our results expand the known metazoan biosphere and demonstrate that deep ecosystems are more complex than previously accepted. The discovery of multicellular life in the deep subsurface of the Earth also has important implications for the search for subsurface life on other planets in our Solar System., Phylum Nematoda Potts, 1932 Suborder Cephalobina Superfamily Panagrolaimidae Halicephalobus mephisto sp. nov. Etymology. Mephisto (from Mephistopheles, pseudo-Greek): 'he who loves not the light', alluding to the Devil, Lord of the [...]

The objective of this study was to expound on the importance of food tourism as an important tourism sub-sector in which the figure of the chef has become an important marketing tool for destinations. Celebrity chefs enjoy worldwide renown and their image contributes to a destination’s tourism potential. A tourism website can act as the tourism window to the country by providing all the necessary travel information necessary for planning the trip. It also serves to market the country by highlighting its attractions, covering all sectors including food tourism. In terms of methodology, this article analyzes the visibility of the figure of the chef and food tourism on South African Tourism website as a secondary source of data and insights. The results show a lack of visibility of chefs (and more generally, the absence of food tourism topics) on the website. The study recommends utilizing the website to enhance and valorize the role of food tourism and especially that of chefs in the country’s tourism sector to reflect its burgeoning potential and nature as well as its new-found importance for attracting tourists to destinations. By implication, it emphasizes the fact that chefs do matter in food tourism.