UWCScholar

This repository serves as a digital archive for the preservation of research outputs from the University of the Western Cape

Communities in UWCScholar

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

Recent Submissions

Can systemic corruption be prevented by legal means? The market for pharmaceuticals in Southern Ethiopia
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2025) Mengesha, Akalework; Bastiaens, Hilde; Ravinetto, Raffaella; Gibson, Linda; Dingwall, Robert
Some international and national regulatory and policy actors assume that strengthening domestic laws and tightening enforcement measures will be sufficient to reduce the extra-legal supply of medicines, whether legal, substandard, or falsified, to patients in low- and middle-income countries. This paper uses a qualitative study of the pharmaceutical market in Southern Ethiopia to argue that this assumption is unjustified, given the common lack of institutional capacity and the complexity of supply chains by which medicines reach local markets. Data are drawn from interviews with pharmacists, wholesalers, pharmacy owners, regulators, law enforcement agents, and health professionals, supplemented by participant observation and review of relevant policy and legal documents. These data were analyzed through the frame of Actor-Network Theory, to trace the journey of medicines from producer to consumer. Officially endorsed regulatory and enforcement mechanisms are entangled in an intricate web of practices involving different actors responding to local demands. The extra-legal supply of medicine, particularly if substandard or falsified, is an important global public health concern, but it will only be reduced by measures that place law and regulation within the context of the social, economic, and cultural factors that shape local markets and undermine the integrity of legal supply chains.
Male polymorphism in bladder grasshoppers: a genetic analysis
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2025) Laubscher, Maxine; Engelbrecht, Adriaan; Couldridge, Vanessa C.K
Polymorphism in one sex often occurs amongst arthropods and is often linked with alternate mating strategies. Bladder grasshoppers show distinct polymorphism resulting in two different male morphs utilizing two different mating strategies. Primary males are larger in size and make use of acoustic communication to attract mates, while secondary (alternate) males are significantly smaller in size, flightless, and do not call, making use of a “sneaker” or satellite strategy. Three species of bladder grasshoppers have been described (Parabullacris vansoni, Paraphysemacris spinosus and Pneumoracris browni) that only have an alternate male morph and no primary male, whereas all other species in the family are described as having only a primary male. However, it is now known that both types of males occur in at least three species (Bullacris discolor, B. membracioides and B. obliqua). Thus, the validity of the taxonomic descriptions for species with no identified primary male has come into question. We therefore conducted a phylogenetic analysis to examine the genetic relationships between primary and secondary males for all species where secondary males are documented or suspected to occur. This was done using both mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (ITS) DNA markers. We confirm that dimorphic males are indeed conspecific for the species observed to have both primary and alternate males. We also demonstrate that P. vansoni, P. browni and P. spinosus are invalid taxa as they are conspecific alternate male morphs of B. unicolor, Peringueyacris namaqua and Physemacris variolosa, respectively.
How the COVID-19 pandemic worsened intimate partner violence: findings from a South Africa high-risk community study
(KeAi Communications Co., 2025) Wang, Xichen; Zhang, Sheldon X; Bender, Annah K; Koegler, Erica L; Rich, Edna G; Price, Rumi Kato
Background: Researchers have been extensively studying the detrimental effects wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic on many aspects of human life. However, there is little empirical research from the Global South on COVID-19 and its impact on intimate partner violence (IPV). Objective: This study sought to explore whether the pandemic-induced effects, such as financial stress, physical health issues, and psychological distress, also increased IPV victimization. Methods: A structured survey was administered to 665 residents who self-identified as having experienced increased risks of human trafficking in low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa, during January–October 2021, at the height of COVID-19. IPV measures were applied to those (N = 418) who reported having had an intimate partner in the past 12 months. Results: Most respondents were born in South Africa. Half of them reported having experienced IPV in the past year. The ordinal regression full model showed that housing insecurity (AOR = 1.67; CI, 1.03–2.70) and mental health concerns (AOR = 1.57; CI, 1.13–2.19) were significant predictors of IPV (p < .05), controlling for other sociodemographic measures. Race (Black, AOR = 0.20; CI, 0.09–0.43), gender (female, AOR = 1.80; CI, 1.17–2.76), and arranged marriage (AOR = 1.97; CI, 1.17–3.32) were also significantly associated with IPV victimization. Conclusion: Housing insecurity and mental health were the most important COVID-induced stressors in elevating IPV victimization during the pandemic. Furthermore, other structural factors, such as race, gender, and arranged marriage, were also strong predictors of IPV victimization in an already vulnerable South African urban community.
The crystal structure of fac-tricarbonyl(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2N,N′)-(azido- κ1N)rhenium(I),C15H8N5O3Re
(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2025) Ledibane, Mmabatho L; Alexander, Orbett T
C15H8N5O3Re, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 18.7508(8) Å, b = 12.2267(6) Å, c = 15.8442(11) Å, β = 123.6160(10)°, V = 3025.0(3) Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.0377, wRref(F2) = 0.0902, T = 292 K.
Biogeochemical controls on soil dispersion and bank stability in the unvegetated, meandering Sulengguole River, Qaidam Basin, China
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) Li, Jiaguang; Grenfell, Michael C; Cheng, Dandan; Alhassan, Jeremiah
Unvegetated meandering rivers play a pivotal role in sediment transport and landscape evolution within dryland environments, yet the interplay between abiotic and biotic factors that govern channel bank stability and migration remains poorly understood. While sedimentological processes have been extensively studied, the combined influence of sediment geochemistry and microbial activity on erosion and bank dynamics remains poorly understood. We investigate a single, nearly unvegetated bend in the Sulengguole River, Qaidam Basin, China, using remote sensing, field observations, and laboratory analyses (grain-size distribution, salinity, ion profiling, and 16S rRNA sequencing) to elucidate how sedimentology, geochemistry, and microbial diversity drive bank erosion and meander migration under uniform seasonal and climatic conditions. Field sampling focused on cavity-rich and compact sediment layers along a representative meander bend. Analyses of grain-size distribution, salinity, ion concentrations, and microbial diversity (via 16S rRNA sequencing) revealed significant spatial and compositional differences in bank stability. Mud-dominated banks, undermined by cavity formation, were found to migrate more than four times faster than interbedded sand-mud banks, as shown by satellite imagery and sedimentological data. High salinity and ion concentrations in finer sediments at elevated bank zones were strongly associated with increased soil dispersion and enhanced erosion. Microbial diversity analysis further indicated that cavity-rich layers were dominated by Brevibacterium and Pseudomonas, taxa known to promote bioerosion, whereas cavity-free layers, enriched with Acinetobacter and Brevundimonas, contributed to sediment cohesion. These findings highlight the critical role of abiotic-biotic interactions in influencing bank stability, sediment transport, and channel migration in unvegetated river systems. By demonstrating how geochemical and biological factors interact to shape riverbank erosion and morphodynamics, this study provides new insights into sediment dynamics in dryland rivers. The results have broader implications for understanding sediment transport in meandering river systems, as well as in interpreting landscape evolution in ancient fluvial records and extraterrestrial environments.