Browsing by Author "Blignaut, Renette J."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Cyber security education is as essential as “the three R's”
    (CELLPRESS, 2019) Venter, Isabella M.; Blignaut, Renette J.; Renaud, Karen; Venter, Anja
    Smartphones have diffused rapidly across South African society and constitute the most dominant information and communication technologies in everyday use. That being so, it is important to ensure that all South Africans know how to secure their smart devices. Doing so requires a high level of security awareness and knowledge. As yet, there is no formal curriculum addressing cyber security in South African schools. Indeed, it seems to be left to universities to teach cyber security principles, and they currently only do this when students take computingrelated courses. The outcome of this approach is that only a very small percentage of South Africans, i.e. those who take computing courses at university, are made aware of cyber security risks and know how to take precautions. In this paper we found that, because this group is overwhelmingly male, this educational strategy disproportionately leaves young South African women vulnerable to cyber-attacks. We thus contend that cyber security ought to be taught as children learn the essential “3 Rs”—delivering requisite skills at University level does not adequately prepare young South Africans for a world where cyber security is an essential skill. Starting to provide awareness and knowledge at primary school, and embedding it across the curriculum would, in addition to ensuring that people have the skills when they need them, also remove the current gender imbalance in cyber security awareness.
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    Evaluation of protein purification techniques and effects of storage duration on lc-ms/ms analysis of archived ffpe human crc tissues
    (Frontiers Media, 2021) Rossouw, Sophia C.; Bendou, Hocine; Blignaut, Renette J.
    To elucidate cancer pathogenesis and its mechanisms at the molecular level, the collecting and characterization of large individual patient tissue cohorts are required. Since most pathology institutes routinely preserve biopsy tissues by standardized methods of formalin fixation and paraffin embedment, these archived FFPE tissues are important collections of pathology material that include patient metadata, such as medical history and treatments. FFPE blocks can be stored under ambient conditions for decades, while retaining cellular morphology, due to modifications induced by formalin. However, the effect of long-term storage, at resource-limited institutions in developing countries, on extractable protein quantity/quality has not yet been investigated. In addition, the optimal sample preparation techniques required for accurate and reproducible results from label-free LC-MS/MS analysis across block ages remains unclear. This study investigated protein extraction efficiency of 1, 5, and 10-year old human colorectal carcinoma resection tissue and assessed three different gel-free protein purification methods for label-free LC-MS/MS analysis. A sample size of n 17 patients per experimental group (with experiment power 0.7 and α 0.05, resulting in 70% confidence level) was selected.
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    ‘Lockdown’: Digital and emergency elearning technologies—A student perspective
    (MDPI, 2022) Venter, Isabella M.; Cranfield, Desirée J.; Blignaut, Renette J.
    The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent emergency measures had a fundamental and disruptive impact on societies and, in particular, on the educational sector. The transition of the modality of educational delivery from face-to-face to online occurred within days; this research study considered the concepts of digital trust and digital access, using structuration, postmodernism, and critical social theory as lenses to understand Higher Education (HE) student experiences during the first wave of the lockdown. The study compared these aspects in Hungary, South Africa, and Wales (UK) with different digital and network readiness indices. The digital development of the countries is presented using both the Digital Intelligence and Network Readiness indices. The research approach was cross-country, international, comparative, inductive, and quantitative.
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    Trends in HIV risk behaviour of incoming first-year students at a South African university: 2007–2012
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2015) Blignaut, Renette J.; Jacobs, Joachim; Vergnani, Tania
    The aim of the research on which this article is based was to understand the behavioural changes of the target student populationover time to ensure that future prevention programmes are more effective in changing behaviour. This study reports on quantitativedata collected at the University of the Western Cape over a six-year period between 2007 and 2012. All the students attending theorientation sessions and who were willing to complete the anonymous questionnaire during each of the six years were included inthe study. Data were collected on the following aspects and subjects: sexual activity, age at first sexual encounter, number of sexualpartners, condom usage, knowledge of how to use a condom, perceived ability to discuss condoms usage with a sexual partner,perception of HIV risk and HIV testing as well as the intention to be tested. Reported alcohol and drug usage, as well asdepressive symptoms, was also recorded. The percentage of students reporting having had vaginal sex prior to enteringuniversity increased from 44% in 2007 to 51% in 2012 but, alarmingly, the consistent use of condoms decreased from 60% in2007 to 51% in 2012. The average onset age of about 15.6 years for males and 16.7 years for females for vaginal sex did notchange over the six-year period. No difference in smoking patterns or drug use was seen over the period of the study, but thenumber of entering students who indicated that they consumed alcohol increased significantly from 48% in 2007 to 58% in2012.