TUT DIGITAL OPEN REPOSITORY
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Item Making community-based tourism sustainable: Evidence from Free State Province, South Africa.(Taylor and Francis, 2018-12-06)Community-based tourism (CBT) has been promoted as a way of development whereby the socio-cultural, environmental and economic needs of local communities are met through tourism product offerings. CBT is concerned with ensuring that the local community benefits directly from the tourism industry. CBT is known to contribute to social and economic survival of the marginalised communities in developing countries and the preservation of natural resources in the affected areas. In developing countries, tourism has often been observed as the spin around for small-scale enterprises and job creation, and therefore the uplifting of local communities’ standard of living. Where CBT is practiced well, there is a potential to provide some exceptional opportunities for communities by offering not only better benefits, but also enhancing their contribution in planning and management of tourism in their communities. The primary goal of the study was to investigate the sustainability of financial investment in community-based tourism projects in the Thabo Mofutsanyana Municipality. Secondary objectives were set, namely: to determine if the projects can sustain themselves after funding support has been terminated, to determine the oversight role played by government on how funding has been utilised, and to formulate guidelines on how to increase the sustainability of CBT projects. CBT projects have the potential of opening up avenues for locals and economically deprived communities to have a meaningful contribution in tourism. The qualitative study sought to investigate the sustainability of financial investments in CBT within the Thabo Mofutsanyane area. The results indicated that financial investments are important for CBT. Financial investments are not an end, as marketing planning and skills development can ensure the success of CBT. This article offers developing destinations will critical success factors for CBT projects that are used to create a tourism supply chain for residents and citizens of a tourism destination.Item Characterisation of sclerocarya birrea (marula) seed oil and investigation of the geographical origin by applying similarity calculations, differential NMR and hierarchical cluster analysis.(Wiley, 2023-06-29)Introduction: The marula fruit is an important indigenous African fruit since various commercial products are produced from the pulp and the seed oil. The increased demand requires methods for authentication, quality control and determination of geographical origin. Objective: The study aimed to establish a fast and reliable method for characterisation and authentication of marula seed oil. Furthermore, to identify marker compounds that can distinguish marula seed oils from other commercial oils and indicate regional differences. Materials and Methods: Metabolic profiling of 44 commercial marula seed oils was performed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). For rapid classification similarity calculations were compared with principal component analysis. Differential NMR was used to determine marker compounds. Results: Marula seed oil was found to be similar to macadamia and olive oils and was distinguished from these oils by the detection of minor components. Marula seed oil is differentiated from the other two oils by the absence of α-linolenic acid, relatively high levels of monoglycerides and diglycerides, and an approximately 1:1 ratio of 1,2- and 1,3-diglycerides. When comparing marula seed oils from various regions using hierarchical cluster analysis, clustering of the marula seed oils from Namibia and Zimbabwe was observed and was related to the quantities of linoleic acid and monoglycerides and diglycerides. Some samples displayed deviations in their composition which might indicate adulteration or contamination during the production process. Conclusion: The study demonstrates the potential of NMR as a tool in the quality control of marula seed oil. This technique requires very little sample preparation, circumvents derivatisation of the oil components with fast run-times. In addition, samples with chemical profiles that differ from the general signature profile can easily be identified.Item Application of coal fly ash for trace metal adsorption from wastewater: A review.(Elsevier Ltd., 2024-05-16)Environmental pollution has become a global issue due to continuing anthropogenic activities that result in the production of enormous amounts of waste and the subsequent release of hazardous trace metals. The increasing levels of trace metals in the environment must be monitored regularly and reduced to prevent contamination of food chain. Numerous conventional technologies that are widely used for the removal of trace metals from environmental matrices have many drawbacks. Currently, the preferred method to remove trace metal ions is the adsorption process, which normally uses adsorbents. This review investigated the applications of coal fly ash (CFA) as a cost-effective adsorbent and the role it plays in the improved properties of nanomaterials that are used for treatment of trace metals in water. The use of CFA and its role in chemical modification processes results to high removal efficiency of trace metals. CFA is a byproduct of coal combustion which is available in abundance and therefore its use is not only beneficial in water treatment processes, but also reduce the burden of solid waste disposalItem Adsorption mechanism of AsH3 pollutant on metal-functionalized coronene C24H12-X (X = Mg, Al, K) quantum dots(Elservier, 2023-05-06)Inorganic arsenic compounds are frequently found to occur naturally or as a result of mining in soils, sediments, and groundwater. Organic arsenic exists mainly in fish, shellfish, and other aquatic life and as a result of this, it may be contaminated in edible consumables such as rice and poorly purified drinking water. Exposure to this toxic gas can cause severe lung and skin cancer as well as other related cancer cases. Therefore, the need to develop more efficient sensing/monitoring devices to signal or detect the presence of excessive accumulation of this gas in our atmosphere is highly demanding. This study has effectively employed quantum mechanical approach, utilizing density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the nanosensing efficacy of metal-decorated coronene quantum dot (QD); (CadecQD, AldecQD, KdecQD, and MgdecQD) surface towards the efficient trapping of AsH3 gas molecule in an attempt to effectively detect the presence of the gas molecule which would help in reducing the health risk imposed by the AsH3. The result obtained from the electronic studies reveals that the engineered molecules interacted more favorably at the gas and water phase than other solvents, owing to their varying calculated adsorption energies (Eads). It was observed that the decoration of potassium and aluminum into the QD surface enhanced the adsorption process of AsH3 gas onto KdecQD and AldecQD surfaces with a comparably moderate level of stability exhibited by the said systems, which is evidently shown by the excellent energy gap (Eg) of 6.9599 eV and 7.3313 eV respectively for the aforementioned surfaces.Item The crystal structure of fac-tricarbonyl(2-pyridin 2-yl-quinoline-κ2 N,N′)-(pyrazole-κN)rhenium(I) nitrate, C20H14N4O3ReNO3(De Gruyter, 2023-04-26)C20H14N4O3ReNO3, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 12.9572 (2), b = 9.1568 (2), c = 17.3658 (3) Å, β = 97.267(2)°, V = 2043.84(7) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0231, wRref (F2) = 0.0514, T = 154 K.
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