University of South Africa

About: University of South Africa is a education organization based out in Pretoria, South Africa. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Population. The organization has 8478 authors who have published 19960 publications receiving 237688 citations. The organization is also known as: Unisa.

High-Performance Hg(II) Removal Using Thiol-Functionalized Polypyrrole (PPy/MAA) Composite and Effective Catalytic Activity of Hg(II)-Adsorbed Waste Material

Abstract: Problems related with highly toxic mercury emissions from industrial effluents are one of the great concerns in the world of environmental science and technology. The primary aim of this present work is the remediation of hazardous pollutant Hg (II) from aqueous medium via a thiol-functionalized (mercaptoacetic acid) conducting polypyrrole (PPy/MAA) composite. The synthesized composite exhibited high Hg(II) adsorption capacity as the incorporated mercapto functionality plays a vital role for the strong binding affinity toward Hg(II) ions. To understand the adsorption properties of the developed polymer composite, a series of batch adsorption experiments were performed by altering the adsorption parameters. A maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of 1736.8 mg/g at 25 °C was obtained using the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption data showed better fitting to the pseudo-second-order rate equation for Hg(II) adsorption. A plausible adsorption mechanism is suggested on the basis of XPS results of major elements pre...

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients' experience with counselling and psychotherapy in South Africa : implications for affirmative practice

Abstract: The Psychological Society of South Africa has embarked on a process of developing affirmative practice guidelines for psychology professionals working with sexually and gender-diverse people, inclusive of, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex concerns. Towards informing the guidelines, we explored self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual people’s experiences of psychotherapy and counselling in South Africa. A total of 15 qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with selected participants. Among others, positive experiences entailed receiving unconditional positive regard, acceptance, and non-judgement from counsellors and/or psychotherapists. This included the counsellors and/or psychotherapists positively affirming participants’ sexual orientation by, for instance, viewing same-sex attractions, feelings, and behaviour as normal variants of sexuality and seeing sexual orientation as one aspect of the person, not the only aspect. Negative experiences were almost exc...

Measuring the Impact of Positive and Negative Word of Mouth: A Reappraisal:

Abstract: Negative information normally has more impact on attitude and cognition than positive information, but there is evidence that positive word of mouth (PWOM) usually has more effect on purchase inten...

Graphene Supported Graphone/Graphane Bilayer Nanostructure Material for Spintronics

Abstract: We report an investigation into the magnetic and electronic properties of partially hydrogenated vertically aligned few layers graphene (FLG) synthesized by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The FLG samples are hydrogenated at different substrate temperatures to alter the degree of hydrogenation and their depth profile. The unique morphology of the structure gives rise to a unique geometry in which graphane/graphone is supported by graphene layers in the bulk, which is very different from other widely studied structures such as one-dimensional nanoribbons. Synchrotron based x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy measurements have been used to investigate the electronic structure and the underlying hydrogenation mechanism responsible for the magnetic properties. While ferromagnetic interactions seem to be predominant, the presence of antiferromagnetic interaction was also observed. Free spins available via the conversion of sp2 to sp3 hybridized structures, and the possibility of unpaired electrons from defects induced upon hydrogenation are thought to be likely mechanisms for the observed ferromagnetic orders.