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To increase individual and communal environmental health awareness through an experiential-education project. A computer-based pre- and postintervention quiz; an educational poster; an interactive board game; and a take-home information leaflet were utilized for a school learners-centered health promotion exhibit at a National Science Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. Out of all the participants, 55.7% were female, and 76.5% attended or had attended a government school. Participants showed significant improvement in their pre- and posteducational intervention. The exhibit was effective in educating participants on environmental health, natural resources, and the impact environmental pollution has on their quality of life.

Introduction: Although this paper deals mostly with the positive effects of a posthumanist worldview on environmental sustainability, partnership, or moral accountability in science and scientific research, it also promotes a new understanding of our educational practice in higher education. The ideas espoused have the ability to inspire educators at all levels to show students, future researchers or other professions about the importance of a progressive, holistic approach to our environment. We claim that being sensitive and caring for our environment is not only part of our moral and ethical responsibility, it is an inseparable aspect of our environmental education, our environmental intelligence. This paper discusses posthumanist reciprocity ethics in the context of traditional knowledge (TK) and the protection of indigenous traditional knowledge from commercial exploitation. Methods: Instances of unethical bioprospecting and biopiracy were common throughout the turn of the 21st century and are discussed using cases in countries such as Cameroon, India, South Africa and Australia, where medicinal plant species were, are still a highly sought-after source of potent, pharmacologically active phytochemicals. Results and discussion: The observed increase in regulations against bioprospecting on indigenous land in these countries as a result of intellectual property monopoly by big pharmaceutical companies is discussed in this paper along the lines of a 'humanist vs posthumanist' ontology. Patent exclusivity laws have historically marginalized the proprietary owners of indigenous traditional knowledge, creating a moral and ethical rift between those that seek to exploit this knowledge commercially and those from whom the knowledge originally comes from. This disconnection from nature and natural resources due to a humanistic approach to growth and development, often leads to environmental exploitation, exploitation of indigenous people and unsustainable commercial practices. Existing research and bioprospecting ethics that are practiced on indigenous lands must be questioned in their ability to provide mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders. Conclusions: The posthumanist approach to morality and research ethics is discussed in this paper as a possible and practical alternative to humanism along with the potential for posthumanist ethics to be a tool to shape legal frameworks and the policies that protect at-risk communities and their respective natural environments. Our current developmental trajectory as a collective species has us blurring the lines that separate the 'human' from the 'non-human' elements in our world as humanity grows towards a more technologically advanced but equally environmentally dependent people. Thus, the currently existing systems of ethics that govern the relationship between the 'human' and 'non-human' must be called into question. This paper aims to illustrate the positive effects of a posthumanist worldview on issues such as environmental sustainability, partnership, moral accountability and reciprocity ethics in the context of modern science and modern scientific research.

Due to the issues of water scarcity, there is a need for formulation of technologies to remove various components wastewaters to produce water that can be reused for irrigation and toilet flushing. Local production of low-cost sorbents and their use in the treatment of greywater were examined in the current study. The aim was to assess whether different clays and/or biochar could be used the potential of the sorbents for greywater remediation. These sorbents were locally mined or sourced/produced in South Africa, and so they could provide a suitable and low-cost treatment option for the greywater treatment and recycling that could allow for water scarcity to be dealt with in South Africa. The sorbents were observed to have average cation exchange capacities of 144.25 ± 0.22, 147.37 ± 0.18 (Clay A), and 191.94 ± 0.40 (Clay B) cmol(+)/kg respectively in methylene blue solution. The same property values were 95.83 ± 0.14, 96.42 ± 0.88 (Clay A) and 96.82 ± 2.20 (Clay B) cmol(+)/kg respectively in brilliant green solution. In the remediation of greywater, biochar had the highest average removal efficiencies of 70.77 ± 35.77 % for faecal coliforms while clay A and B had 51.11 ± 8.49 % and 53.86 ± 4.42 %, respectively. Performance of the sorbents for removal of electrical conductivity (desalination) from saline water requires further investigation, while in remediation of greywater the sorbents have shown a potential for upscale greywater treatment via shaking and sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute toxicity of raw and treated greywater towards Daphnia magna was assessed in this study. Treatment was performed with exposure of greywater to the fly-lime mixture After 48 h of exposure, 100 % mortality of D. magna was recorded when testing the following volumetric fractions of the raw greywater streams in the tested liquid medium (%; v/v): 10 % for kitchen greywater, 5 – 10 % for bathroom greywater and 1.25 – 10 % for laundry greywater. After greywater treatment with the fly-ash-lime mixture with pH adjustment to 7.0, 80 % of neonates of D. magna survived after exposure to treated laundry greywater in all dilutions at 48 h. At the same time, 100 % of neonates survived exposure to treated bathroom and kitchen greywater at all volumetric fractions. Therefore greywater had acute toxicity to D. magna, i.e. greywater treatment was required before its discharge or reuse. Values of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the chemical components of the raw greywater and treated greywater and the survival of D. magna indicated a lack of statistically significant correlation at 5 % level of significance (p-value > 0.05 in all cases), i.e. the survival of D. magna was independent of the concentration of chemical constituents in greywater samples tested. Further studies will have to be conducted on the chronic toxicity of the greywater effluent after treatment with the fly-lime mixture. Experiments from this study will have to be re-run for the fully scaled-up version of the fly-lime mixture-based greywater treatment systems.

This paper describes study of ciprofloxacin and isoniazid removal from aqueous solutions using coal fly ash (FA), kaolinite, perlite, talc and vermiculite. The adsorptive features of the adsorbents were evaluated for ciprofloxacin and isoniazid with regards to the effects of contact time, pH, the solid/liquid ratio and antibiotic concentration. All adsorbents were sterilised by dry heat before use to avoid the proliferation of antimicrobial resistance by the bacteria present on the adsorbents during experiments. The regression correlation coefficients indicate that the Langmuir model gives the best fit for the sorption of both antibiotics onto FA and talc, ciprofloxacin onto kaolinite, and isoniazid onto perlite and vermiculite with R2 values ranging from 0.908 – 0.999. The Freundlich isotherm best describes the sorption of ciprofloxacin onto vermiculite and isoniazid onto kaolinite with R2 values of 0.999 for both. The Tempkin model best describes the sorption of ciprofloxacin onto perlite with an R2 = 0.997. The values of the Freundlich exponent, 1/n, range from 0.221 – 0.998, indicating a favourable adsorption of ciprofloxacin and isoniazid onto the adsorbents. The heat of sorption, B, calculated from the Temkin plots has values ranging from 0.018 – 10.460 J/mol, indicating a physical adsorption process (physisorption). Adsorption equilibrium was achieved after 30 min for both antibiotics and the kinetic data obtained conforms best to the pseudo-second order equation with R2 values ranging from 0.998 – 0.999. The removal of ciprofloxacin and isoniazid by all adsorbents except FA was strongly influenced by the pH suggesting that electrostatic interactions play a major role in the adsorption processes.

Water security in South Africa depends on natural and artificial water sources such as rivers, lakes, rainwater harvesting, boreholes, dams, desalination, the importation of water from nearby countries, and wastewater treatment plants. The primary input to these water resources is rainfall which is estimated to be around 492 mm per year and is half of the world average (985 mm per year) due to climate change impacts. This study encourages the treatment and reuse of greywater as an additional water source for non-potable purposes such as toilet flushing and irrigation. The performance of the Laboratory (Lab)-scale Gravel Filter Towers (GFTs) was evaluated concurrently with the Pilot-scale system for remediation of the microbiological and physicochemical constituents in greywater which was sampled from separate single-households for both systems. The highest removal efficiency of faecal coliforms by the GTFs was 92.89 ± 93.39 % while the Pilot-scale exhibited a removal efficiency of 21.51 ± 12.47 %. The systems showed partial removal of microbiological, chemical, nutrient, and physical constituents, indicating that further analysis and improvements are required before decentralization. The GFTs could be improved by the addition of a biochar filter while the pilot-scale systems require fresh treatment materials monthly to avoid clogging and leaching of biofilms to the final collection tank. Further analysis could involve the profiling of the microbial communities using metagenomic techniques which may provide insight into the biochemical functioning (bioremediation, quorum sensing, and pathogenicity) of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this follow up paper, the ribovirocell concept from the first part of the study is linked to the ontological realm of human reality before, during and in the aftermath of COVID19. During this fluid space-time, human reality is multi-faceted and often very complicated. The authors present a division of the reality into fundamental reality and situational reality. Fundamental reality is based on the (physical) laws of nature such as the speed of light as a fundamental physical constant. This reality spans beyond the course of time as perceived by humans, which is beyond the duration of a single or multiple human lifespans and beyond the duration of the COIVD19 pandemic. Next to fundamental reality and overlapping with it, exists the situational reality, which humans experience directly themselves during their lifetime(s). Actions of humanity and of individual human beings contribute to the shaping of the situational reality. Examples of the situational reality can be e.g. experiencing atrocities that humanity has committed, humanity's actions to prevent such atrocities in the future, as well as human progress in eliminating poverty/inequality in the world. At least, some aspects of human lives take place at the boundary between the fundamental and situational reality. The COVID19 pandemic is linked to the concepts and the boundary between the fundamental and situational reality that human's experiences, such as speed of pandemic impact and shifting nature of reality. The ribovirocell state of one's self is linked to the way to apply the speed as a threshold concept for resilience in the coronavirus space-time and the post-COVID19 world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current population of South Africa has been migrating into informal urban settlements that lack adequate sanitation service delivery, caused at least in part by the lack of the necessary skills in the local government sector and the lack of buy in from the community into the provided sanitation facilities. The authors report results of policy research into the relevant disaster management options that could be applied to improve the sanitation service delivery in South Africa. The best policy option was identified as the draft Disaster Management Regulations: Disaster Management. Local government can use these tools through the formation of the volunteer units from the nongovernmental organization sector, the business community, and from among the end users of sanitation facilities. Formation of the volunteer unit should follow the principles of cooperative governance and participatory approach to disaster management. Implementation should be facilitated through the adoption of locally specific municipal bylaws., Introduction Recent data indicate that up to 55.1% of the South African population resides in provinces where the country's major metropolitan centers are located (Statistics South Africa [StatSA], 2013). During [...]

The Nigerian legal system is diverse in that it recognizes several established legal systems that regulate how Nigerians conduct themselves. These legal frameworks include the civil law that was passed down from the British during and after colonization, pre-colonial customary laws and cultural practices, and religious laws (Christian and Islamic laws). Different kinds of norms and laws have subjected Nigerian women to violations of their rights depending on the woman's cultural or religious affiliation. Such cultural and/or religious practices are usually in opposition to civil law and the Nigerian constitution, which is a custodian of these rights. Moreover, despite the supremacy of the constitution and expected compliance with international human rights treaties that Nigeria has ratified, the fact is that today there are impediments to the effective protection of women's rights in Nigeria. For instance, although the Nigerian constitution outlaw's discrimination on the grounds of gender, customary and religious laws continue to restrict the effective implementation of women's rights, making it extremely difficult to harmonize domestic legislation with international human rights conventions, and also remove discriminatory measures. This article, thus, examines the issues of gender inequality as the basis for agitation for women's empowerment and women's rights while also proposing a re-alignment of domestic legislation in compliance with international human rights conventions and treaties, in order to combat cultural and religious norms that flout human rights considerations for Nigerian women. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to highlight the challenges that may arise when these legal systems clash, and how that affects the protection of women's rights, particularly in view of international human rights treaties which Nigeria has signed and ratified. The article will therefore propose that women's rights should be protected by seeking to eradicate cultural and religious practices that are discriminatory. This can be achieved by adopting laws which can be interpreted by domestic courts in line with constitutional requirements protecting the rights of women. It is noteworthy that the Nigerian judiciary has declared certain customs and traditions contrary to natural justice, equity and good conscience. Some of the case laws and judicial pronouncements will also be examined in this paper to enable implementation for the protection of women's rights. The methodology adopted is desk-top legal research where judgments of courts and legislative enactments will form the basis of the findings of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human actions are ambivalent in nature and this in turn has an impact on all components of socio-ecological systems. Their ambivalence results from the fact that human actions have both positive and negative outcomes and properties, which occur and manifest concurrently in the ontological realm of human existence. In terms of space–time, both micro-geography and macro-geography of human existence are intertwined during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus affecting pre- and post-pandemic space–time continuum. The utilitarian qubit can be used to describe the nature of human existence, i.e., Homo sapiens has always been experiencing a state of existence where pain and pleasure are co-extensive. In this state, it is impossible to establish to what extent pain, and to what extent pleasure, will have a definitive impact on our status as individuals and humanity as a species. In this article, the authors explore how the record of an individual's life before and after the COVID-19 pandemic has been impacted by the wellbeing and actions of other humans and prior to one's existence. Drawing on the utilitarian qubit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impacts on the members of Homo sapiens, can be understood as a partial outcome of the cumulative actions of humanity on the biosphere and other elements of the global ecosystem (the Age of the Anthropocene). We argue that this paper is also useful to foster disaster preparedness and resilience in the pandemic and post-pandemic era, at micro- and macro-geographical interfaces of human existence in the 21st century. The existence of individual members of Homo sapiens and humanity as a species is unfolding at the boundary between two levels: fundamental reality and situational reality. The result is the historical accumulation and ontological interconnectedness of humanity's activities with one's own actions. Pain and pleasure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Age of Anthropocene, as well as the right and wrong consequences of humanity's actions, are posited here to be symptoms of the Anthropocenic (phase of) epidemiological transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterization of interactions with phospholipids is an integral part of the in vitro profiling of drug candidates because of the roles the interactions play in tissue accumulation and passive diffusion. [...]

This is the first of two papers in which the authors seek to explain and problematise the current moral and ethical deviations from ideal research ethics by examining the predominant humanist philosophical knowledge system that underpins the postmodern era and modern scientific research practices. Additionally, a causal relationship between knowledge paradigms, culture and societal behaviour along with societal products and societal instruments is proposed. The notion is that knowledge paradigms have the potential to influence the cultures of the people who adopt them. The culture which knowledge paradigms produce within a society in turn influences the instruments that said society generates, such as economic systems, power structures and policies pertaining to human co-existence/behaviour. This paper in two parts examines and compares the formulae for (ethical) knowledge generation that were used during the medieval, modern and current postmodern eras and the performative effects of the respective knowledge paradigms within those societies in terms of morality, ethics, geopolitics, scientific and existential inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]