In this study, high-throughput metagenomic amplicon sequencing and physicochemical analyses were ... more In this study, high-throughput metagenomic amplicon sequencing and physicochemical analyses were used to evaluate the structural composition and functional diversity of the soil bacterial communities at different illegal waste dump sites. Results showed that while the litter-free soil was dominated by the phylum Proteobacteria, dumpsite soils were enriched with phylum Actinobacteria, followed by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Bacteroidetes, and Gemmatimonadetes. Bacterial diversity differed significantly (p > 0.05) between the litter-free and contaminated sites, with each dumpsite having distinct genera that demonstrate the impact of waste type on the bacterial community composition. Genus Nocardioides, a versatile organic and inorganic pollutant-degrading bacteria in the class Actinomycetia, was dominant in the dump site soils, raising the possibility that this genus could serve as a potential biomarker for dump site soil pollution. PICRU...
Purpose: This study reflects on three technology integration strategies for enhanced student enga... more Purpose: This study reflects on three technology integration strategies for enhanced student engagement, namely; keeping the learning social, keeping the learning authentic, and ensuring that the technology adds value to learning. Methodology: The study employed a student technology profiling survey involving 3rd Year Cell Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Genetics students at the University of Namibia in 2021. The survey used a Google Document whose link was distributed to students through class WhatsApp group. Further, literature is reviewed on student engagement, and blended learning. The data was qualitatively presented using graphs. Findings: The study revealed that keeping the learning social ensures learning from sociocultural perspectives, and allows for social constructivist methods of learning while the adoption of authentic learning as a pedagogical model can help to better prepare students for professional practice. Teachers can ensure that technology integration adds ...
The discharge of untreated hospital and domestic wastewater into receiving water bodies is still ... more The discharge of untreated hospital and domestic wastewater into receiving water bodies is still a prevalent practice in developing countries. Unfortunately, because of an ever-increasing population of people who are perennially under medication, these wastewaters contain residues of antibiotics and other antimicrobials as well as microbial shedding, the direct and indirect effects of which include the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and an increase in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that pose a threat to public and environmental health. This study assessed the taxonomic and functional profiles of bacterial communities, as well as the antibiotic concentrations in untreated domestic wastewater (DWW) and hospital wastewater (HWW), using high-throughput sequencing analysis and solid-phase extraction coupled to Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) analysis, respectively. The physicochemical qualities of both wastewater ...
The study reports findings that profiled students at the University of Namibia and discusses majo... more The study reports findings that profiled students at the University of Namibia and discusses major dimensions enabling or hindering learning and teaching in higher education. The study further assesses the various teaching strategies preferred by students. Information ranging from gender, marital status, ethnicity, age, educational background and funding was analysed. To collect data, an online questionnaire survey link was distributed to 99 third year nursing students using their student emails. Simple random sampling method was quantitatively used to select 30 participants email addresses. About 21 students completed online survey questionnaires. Captured data was analysed descriptively through google documents to describe the study features. A five point Likert scale was used to measure participation, motivation, support, performance and inclusion, which remain crucial in enabling or hindering learning in higher education. Findings show that there was diversity in the classroom i...
Clean air is a fundamental requirement for life. In the last two decades, there has now been a pr... more Clean air is a fundamental requirement for life. In the last two decades, there has now been a pronounced consciousness about the air quality of both the indoor and outdoor systems, as the microorganisms prevailing in an environment symbolizes the diverse human activities (Pasquarella et al. 2000; Barberan et al. 2015a), as well as their functions in different ecosystems (Adams et al. 2016). However, in densely populated areas, airborne microbial contaminants, especially the emerging pathogens and contaminants, can have numerous adverse effects on human health and well-being, including inflammation, toxic effects (allergic responses) and infections (Schmidt et al. 2012; Peter 2014; Wei et al. 2017). The term ‘bioaerosol’ refers to airborne biological particles (living and non-living), volatile organic compounds (VOC) formed from the dispersal and excretions of particles released from diverse ecosystems into the atmosphere (Peter 2014; Saramanda et al. 2016). Bioaerosols are generall...
Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional... more Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional strategies that are responsive to the diverse student needs. We here argue that student profiling is a handy tool that the HE teacher can use for inclusive instructional design by thoughtfully selecting learning and teaching strategies, and materials and supports that will maximise student achievement. We designed a student-profiling instrument focusing on capturing students’ biographical information, learning preferences, anticipated learning outcomes, personality traits, and learning related skills-set and administered to students in a 3rd Year Biotechnology class at the University of Namibia. The data on learning style preferences was analysed using the VARK Questionnaire (version 8.01) while a Chi-square (?2) test of association (SPSS software version 24) was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and the other variables. Seven...
Interrelations between epiphytic bacteria and macroalgae are multifaceted and complicated, though... more Interrelations between epiphytic bacteria and macroalgae are multifaceted and complicated, though little is known about the community structure, interaction and functions of those epiphytic bacteria. This study comprehensively characterized the epiphytic bacterial communities associated with eight different common seaweeds collected from a rocky intertidal zone on the Indian Ocean at Cape Vidal, South Africa. High-throughput sequencing analyses indicated that seaweed-associated bacterial communities were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed the presence of elemental composition in the surface of examined seaweeds, in varying concentrations. Cluster analysis showed that bacterial communities of brown seaweeds (SW2 and SW4) were closely resembled those of green seaweeds (SW1) and red seaweeds (SW7) while those of brown seaweeds formed a separate...
In this study, high-throughput metagenomic amplicon sequencing and physicochemical analyses were ... more In this study, high-throughput metagenomic amplicon sequencing and physicochemical analyses were used to evaluate the structural composition and functional diversity of the soil bacterial communities at different illegal waste dump sites. Results showed that while the litter-free soil was dominated by the phylum Proteobacteria, dumpsite soils were enriched with phylum Actinobacteria, followed by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Bacteroidetes, and Gemmatimonadetes. Bacterial diversity differed significantly (p > 0.05) between the litter-free and contaminated sites, with each dumpsite having distinct genera that demonstrate the impact of waste type on the bacterial community composition. Genus Nocardioides, a versatile organic and inorganic pollutant-degrading bacteria in the class Actinomycetia, was dominant in the dump site soils, raising the possibility that this genus could serve as a potential biomarker for dump site soil pollution. PICRU...
Purpose: This study reflects on three technology integration strategies for enhanced student enga... more Purpose: This study reflects on three technology integration strategies for enhanced student engagement, namely; keeping the learning social, keeping the learning authentic, and ensuring that the technology adds value to learning. Methodology: The study employed a student technology profiling survey involving 3rd Year Cell Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Genetics students at the University of Namibia in 2021. The survey used a Google Document whose link was distributed to students through class WhatsApp group. Further, literature is reviewed on student engagement, and blended learning. The data was qualitatively presented using graphs. Findings: The study revealed that keeping the learning social ensures learning from sociocultural perspectives, and allows for social constructivist methods of learning while the adoption of authentic learning as a pedagogical model can help to better prepare students for professional practice. Teachers can ensure that technology integration adds ...
The discharge of untreated hospital and domestic wastewater into receiving water bodies is still ... more The discharge of untreated hospital and domestic wastewater into receiving water bodies is still a prevalent practice in developing countries. Unfortunately, because of an ever-increasing population of people who are perennially under medication, these wastewaters contain residues of antibiotics and other antimicrobials as well as microbial shedding, the direct and indirect effects of which include the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and an increase in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that pose a threat to public and environmental health. This study assessed the taxonomic and functional profiles of bacterial communities, as well as the antibiotic concentrations in untreated domestic wastewater (DWW) and hospital wastewater (HWW), using high-throughput sequencing analysis and solid-phase extraction coupled to Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) analysis, respectively. The physicochemical qualities of both wastewater ...
The study reports findings that profiled students at the University of Namibia and discusses majo... more The study reports findings that profiled students at the University of Namibia and discusses major dimensions enabling or hindering learning and teaching in higher education. The study further assesses the various teaching strategies preferred by students. Information ranging from gender, marital status, ethnicity, age, educational background and funding was analysed. To collect data, an online questionnaire survey link was distributed to 99 third year nursing students using their student emails. Simple random sampling method was quantitatively used to select 30 participants email addresses. About 21 students completed online survey questionnaires. Captured data was analysed descriptively through google documents to describe the study features. A five point Likert scale was used to measure participation, motivation, support, performance and inclusion, which remain crucial in enabling or hindering learning in higher education. Findings show that there was diversity in the classroom i...
Clean air is a fundamental requirement for life. In the last two decades, there has now been a pr... more Clean air is a fundamental requirement for life. In the last two decades, there has now been a pronounced consciousness about the air quality of both the indoor and outdoor systems, as the microorganisms prevailing in an environment symbolizes the diverse human activities (Pasquarella et al. 2000; Barberan et al. 2015a), as well as their functions in different ecosystems (Adams et al. 2016). However, in densely populated areas, airborne microbial contaminants, especially the emerging pathogens and contaminants, can have numerous adverse effects on human health and well-being, including inflammation, toxic effects (allergic responses) and infections (Schmidt et al. 2012; Peter 2014; Wei et al. 2017). The term ‘bioaerosol’ refers to airborne biological particles (living and non-living), volatile organic compounds (VOC) formed from the dispersal and excretions of particles released from diverse ecosystems into the atmosphere (Peter 2014; Saramanda et al. 2016). Bioaerosols are generall...
Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional... more Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional strategies that are responsive to the diverse student needs. We here argue that student profiling is a handy tool that the HE teacher can use for inclusive instructional design by thoughtfully selecting learning and teaching strategies, and materials and supports that will maximise student achievement. We designed a student-profiling instrument focusing on capturing students’ biographical information, learning preferences, anticipated learning outcomes, personality traits, and learning related skills-set and administered to students in a 3rd Year Biotechnology class at the University of Namibia. The data on learning style preferences was analysed using the VARK Questionnaire (version 8.01) while a Chi-square (?2) test of association (SPSS software version 24) was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and the other variables. Seven...
Interrelations between epiphytic bacteria and macroalgae are multifaceted and complicated, though... more Interrelations between epiphytic bacteria and macroalgae are multifaceted and complicated, though little is known about the community structure, interaction and functions of those epiphytic bacteria. This study comprehensively characterized the epiphytic bacterial communities associated with eight different common seaweeds collected from a rocky intertidal zone on the Indian Ocean at Cape Vidal, South Africa. High-throughput sequencing analyses indicated that seaweed-associated bacterial communities were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria and Verrucomicrobia. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed the presence of elemental composition in the surface of examined seaweeds, in varying concentrations. Cluster analysis showed that bacterial communities of brown seaweeds (SW2 and SW4) were closely resembled those of green seaweeds (SW1) and red seaweeds (SW7) while those of brown seaweeds formed a separate...
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