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Iris colour in passerine birds: why be bright-eyed?

- Craig, Adrian J F K, Hulley, Patrick E

  • Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hulley, Patrick E
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449872 , vital:74860 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC96183
  • Description: An initial survey of iris coloration in passerine birds (Aves : Passeriformes) showed that a brightly pigmented iris is much more common in southern African and Australian birds than in those from Europe, temperate North America, and Venezuela. However, the only statistical correlation reflected the distribution of particular bird families in these regions. Ten family-level groups considered to represent monophyletic taxa were then selected for a more detailed analysis, comparing iris coloration with distribution, status, taxonomy, plumage patterns, and some biological and behavioural characters for 1143 species. No pattern associating iris colour with particular traits was common to all families, but within families there were statistically significant associations with both plumage and biology. Our expectation that social behaviour would be an important predictor of iris colour was not supported, but critical information is still lacking for many species. Future studies of avian behavioural ecology should examine critically the role of iris coloration in individual species.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Irony and transcendence on the Renaissance stage

- Wright, Laurence

  • Authors: Wright, Laurence
  • Date: 2004
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: vital:7067 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007455 , https://doi.org/10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.3.4728
  • Description: preprint , This is the concluding essay in a collection entitled 'This Earthly Stage'. The chapter argues that the peculiar task of the stage metaphor - the notion of the theatre as a metaphor for life,which involves complex interactions between rarefied intellectual constructions of life and mundane reality - is to interrogate the tension between an inscrutable cosmic order and the limited viewpoints of ordinary humanity.The piece moves from general considerations of irony and dramatic irony, via an analysis of Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, to comments on Petrarch, Pico and Vives, culminating in a consideration of irony and transcendence in Shakespeare's last plays.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Is it feasable to increase the medium density fibreboard manufacturing capability in South Africa?

- Van Rooyen, Petrus Mynhardt

  • Authors: Van Rooyen, Petrus Mynhardt
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Fiberboard industry -- South Africa , Fiberboard , Particle board
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:10938 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/255 , Fiberboard industry -- South Africa , Fiberboard , Particle board
  • Description: Medium density fibre (MDF) board is used in various applications in the building-, furniture- and casket industry. The market is shared by solid wood and other flat panels, such as particle board and plywood. The market in South Africa forms part of the global market. Therefore it is possible to import MDF. The demand for MDF is driven by the building industry, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the exchange rate. The CPI is an indication of the consumer’s willingness to purchase furniture or to invest in property with subsequent growth in the building industry. The 2002 market in SA is 500 000m3 for particle board and 110 000m3 for MDF. The imported boards during this same period were particle board 10 000m3 and 22 194m3 for MDF. The extrapolated expected imports for 2003 would be 12 362m3 and 35 045m3 for particle board and MDF respectively. According to the empirical study the market increase for particle board and MDF, for 2003, will be 18%. That means that the particle board market will increase to 590 000m3 and the MDF market to 130 000m3. The 2002 production capacity was 648 000m3 (particle board) and 155 000m3 for MDF. The Sonae factory in White River can produce either particle board or MDF and this influences the production capacities. According to various International databases the requirements for SA in 2020 will be 984 000m3 for particle board and 569 000m3 for MDF. Quick calculation show a shortfall of 414 000m3 for MDF in 2020 when compared to 2002 production capacity. First mover advantage will give the mover the major market share in SA. The demand will be there. All the above calculations have been done without taking the 2010 World Football event in SA into consideration. The question is – all the current players are almost on par to make it happen. The company with the burning desire to make it work will find the finance and will have the controlling market share.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Isolation of genes encoding heat shock protein 70 (hsp70s) from the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae

- Modisakeng, Keoagile W, Dorrington, Rosemary A, Blatch, Gregory L

  • Authors: Modisakeng, Keoagile W , Dorrington, Rosemary A , Blatch, Gregory L
  • Date: 2004
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6459 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005788
  • Description: Under stress conditions, proteins unfold or misfold, leading to the formation of aggregates. Molecular chaperones can be defined as proteins that facilitate the correct folding of other proteins, so that they attain a stable tertiary structure. In addition, they promote the refolding and degradation of denatured proteins after cellular stress. Heat shock proteins form one of the main classes of molecular chaperones. We are interested in determining if the genome of the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) encodes a heat shock protein-based cytoprotection mechanism. We have isolated 50 kb and larger coelacanth genomic DNA from frozen skin tissue of L. chalumnae. From the alignments of several fish Hsp70 proteins, conserved regions at the N- and C-termini were identified. Codon usage tables were constructed from published coelacanth genes and degenerate primers were designed to isolate the full-length hsp70 gene and regions encoding the ATPase and the peptide binding domains. Since it is known that the tilapia and Fugu inducible hsp70 genes are intronless, we proceeded on the assumption that a coelacanth inducible hsp70 would also be intronless. A large fragment (1840 bp) encoding most of a coelacanth Hsp70 protein, and two partial fragments encoding a coelacanth Hsp70ATPase domain (1048 bp) and peptide binding domain (873 bp), were isolated by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Protein sequences translated from all the nucleotide sequences were closely identical to typical Hsp70s. This is the first study to provide evidence for a cytoprotection mechanism in the coelacanth involving an inducible Hsp70.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Ithemba lam

- Dubeni, S., Xakayi, S., Rodolo, L. S., Mgidi, A., Composer not specified, Dargie, Dave

Ithemba lam

- Dubeni, S., Xakayi, S., Rodolo, L. S., Mgidi, A., Composer not specified, Dargie, Dave

Jah children the experience of Rastafari children in South Africa as members of a minority group with particular reference to communities in the former Cape Province

- Bain, Pauline

  • Authors: Bain, Pauline
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Northern Cape , Reggae music -- South Africa -- History and criticism , Rastafarian ethics -- South Africa , Rastafari movement -- Doctrines , Children of minorities -- South Africa -- Education , Socialization -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2087 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002650 , Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Western Cape , Rastafari movement -- South Africa -- Northern Cape , Reggae music -- South Africa -- History and criticism , Rastafarian ethics -- South Africa , Rastafari movement -- Doctrines , Children of minorities -- South Africa -- Education , Socialization -- South Africa
  • Description: This thesis is an ethnography of Rastafari childhood in the former Cape Province, South Africa, through the eyes of both parents and children. If children are a ‘muted group’, then what are the identity formation implications for “double-muted” groups, the children of ethnic minorities whose voices are not heard? Rasta parents’ experience of the struggle, ie. the opposition to apartheid, has shaped the Rastafari chant of ‘equal rights’ and ‘justice’ into a distinctly South African form of protest and resistance. Their childhood experiences have resulted in a desire to provide a better life for their children, using Rastafari as a vehicle. This is expressed in a continuation of the struggle that was started during apartheid, in the Rasta ideology children grow up learning. The Rasta child has become a contested body in this struggle. The South African Government, through policy, has a mandate to protect the child, and legislature exists to do so in accordance with international law. However, as child-raising differs phenomenally from culture to culture, these goals on the part of the State start infringing upon the rights and freedoms of minorities to raise their children according to their own cultural goals. This study examines the tension between Rastafari and government with regards to child raising, specifically looking at the following main points of contestation: public health, public schools and policy/legislation; in order to examine how Rasta children negotiate their identity in the face of these conflicting messages and struggles. Their identity can be influenced by three main groups, the Rasta family they grow up in; school; and multi-media. What these children choose to accept or reject in their worldview is moderated by their own agency. This study shows that this tension results in a new generation of Rastafari children, who are strongly grounded in an identity as Rastafari and take pride in this identity. It also illustrates how Rastafari are impacting on and changing government policy through resistance. Their successes in challenging the state on the grounds of multiculturalism and religious freedom, has helped in the attainment of a sense of dignity.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Journeys of the learning soul: Plato to Descartes

- Hugo, Wayne

  • Authors: Hugo, Wayne
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Education -- Philosophy Education -- History Education, Ancient Education, Greek
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1884 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005917
  • Description: This thesis aims to build up a picture of what it has meant for us within the western canon to educate a human being through the depths and heights of existence. It uses narrative accounts of educational journeys from ancient, medieval and early modern sources to develop an integral picture of the spectrum of education along with the techniques and fore-structures needed to guide a student through the various stages and encounters. Key metaphors, journeys and relationships - Diotirna's ladder of beauty, Plato's cave, Philo's Abraham and Sarah, Origen's bride and Bridegroom, Plotinus' journey of the alone to the Alone, Augustine's Confessions, the tragic love of Abelard and Heloise, Dante's encounters in the infernal, purgatorial and paradisical realms of human experience, Shakespeare's great playing within the same realm, and Descartes' doubting genius provide a rich ensemble, each resonating with the next, opening out intellectual, affective, volitional, and imaginative paths through the full terrain of human existence. This multidimensional approach points towards a flexible and insightful pedagogics that works with the enormous variety and capacity of human learning rather than heavy-handedly insisting on one path, or, even worse, not recognizing and dealing with specific areas of human living that occur in the upper and lower reaches of our educational endeavours. Phenomenological, Hermeneutic and Integral methods suggested by Heidegger and Wilber amongst others were used to inform the process of research. The results of this thesis are not contained in its reconunendations but in the effects of its reading. It is itself a tool that embodies and encourages the principles of an educational tradition that has existed within the history of western learning, not seeking a return to ancient or medieval ways but to provide a backlight that assists current initiatives working with the full range of human potential.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Justifiability as grounds for the review of labour arbitration proceedings

- Young, Kirsty Leigh

  • Authors: Young, Kirsty Leigh
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: South Africa. Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- South Africa Arbitration, Industrial -- South Africa Arbitration, Industrial -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
  • Identifier: vital:3666 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003070
  • Description: This thesis focuses on the review of labour arbitration awards given under the auspices of the following bodies: the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration ("CCMA"), bargaining councils, statutory councils, accredited private agencies and private arbitration tribunals. The general grounds of review applicable to the arbitration awards of each body are set out. Against this background, the case of Carephone (Pty) Ltd v Marcus NO & Others (1998) 19 ILJ 1425 (LAC) is analysed and the principles pertaining to the justifiability test are clarified. The judicial rationale for the application of the test to CCMA arbitration proceedings and criticisms of the test are then examined. Currently the justifiability test applies in the review of CCMA proceedings only, so the judicial reasoning for the rejection of justifiability as a ground for private arbitration review is examined. Three approaches are suggested for the application of the justifiability test in private arbitration review. First it is proposed that the Arbitration Act could be interpreted to include the justifiability test under the statutory review grounds. Failing the acceptance of this approach, the second submission is that arbitration agreements could be interpreted to include an implied term that the arbitrator is under a duty to give justifiable awards. A third suggestion is that the law should be developed by attaching an ex lege term to all arbitration agreements requiring arbitrators to give justifiable awards. In the final chapter, the requirement of justifiability in awards given under the auspices of collective bargaining agents and accredited private agencies highlights the incongruity in applying the justifiability test in CCMA arbitration review and in rejecting this test in private arbitration review.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Kaleidoscope configurations for reflectance measurement

- Bangay, Shaun D, Radloff, Judith D

  • Authors: Bangay, Shaun D , Radloff, Judith D
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432891 , vital:72910 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1029949.1029979
  • Description: Simulations of different configurations of the symmetrical tapered kaleidoscope are performed to assess their merits for measurement of BRDFs and BTFs. The relationship between optimal kaleidoscope layout, and factors such as hardware restrictions and the resolution of the required reflectance function, is derived. The effect on the measurement of the reflectance function of changing these independent variables is examined through the simulation. These experiments highlight issues affecting the measurement of BTFs using kaleidoscopes, and suggest configurations that allow sampling at regular parameter intervals. A number of other kaleidoscope architectures are explored, which offer the benefits of potentially doubling the range of directions that can be sampled, and allowing adaptive control of sample intervals.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Knowing what we can't believe

- Viedge, Nikolai

  • Authors: Viedge, Nikolai
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Reason , Reasoning , Truth , Explanation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2724 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002854 , Reason , Reasoning , Truth , Explanation
  • Description: The aim of this thesis is to examine what affect, if any, finding an argument both unanswerable yet unbelievable has on three purported first-person doxastic constraints. The three proposed constraints are the principle of truth, the principle of adequate reason and the principle of epistemic explanation. In Chapter 1, I lay out the claim of each of these constraints; differentiate them from one another, examine under what conditions they can be said to apply and provide what I take to be the strongest arguments for each of them. In Chapter 2, I explicate what I mean by finding an argument unanswerable yet unbelievable. In Chapters 3, 4 and 5, I detail how it is that finding an argument unanswerable yet unbelievable could constitute a threat to each of these constraints. I conclude that while the principle of adequate reason is undermined in the face of this threat, both the principle of truth and the principle of epistemic explanation fail to be undermined by this challenge.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Kwasa Kwasa

- Group performance, Group Composition, Dargie, Dave

Laboratory investigation of a simulated industrial task pre- and post-ergonomics intervention

- Renz, Miriam Christina

  • Authors: Renz, Miriam Christina
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Human engineering , Musculoskeletal system -- Diseases , Occupational diseases
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:5162 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015806
  • Description: The focus of the present study was on the investigation of the effects of an intervention strategy on an industrial task in situ and a simulation of the same task within a laboratory setting. The task of offloading crates from a truck at a local business was simulated in a laboratory setting for rigorous analysis. The effect of an ergonomically sound intervention on selected physical, physiological and perceptual variables was evaluated in a test - retest experimental set-up using 28 young, healthy male students. Each of the two experimental conditions lasted for 16 minutes. In the pre-intervention task subjects were required to transfer the crates from one point to another by sliding them along the floor. During the execution of the post-intervention task responses to reductions in the stacking height and modifications of the working method were evaluated. Results obtained for spinal kinematics during the simulated industrial task indicated a high biomechanical risk, due to large ranges of motion, high velocities and accelerations in the sagittal and transverse planes. The heavy workload of the task was also evident in elevated physiological responses (HR, RF, VT, VE, VO2, RQ, EE) and perceptual ratings (RPE, Body Discomfort). Assessment of the intervention strategy revealed that the ‘high risk’ industrial task was reduced to ‘moderate acceptable’, with measurements of spinal kinematics, physiological and perceptual variables being significantly reduced. An in situ re-assessment of the workers’ responses to the intervention also elicited reductions in heart rates and perceptual ratings compared to the original task.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Language and value: towards accepting a richer linguistic ecology for South Africa

- Wright, Laurence

  • Authors: Wright, Laurence
  • Date: 2004
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: vital:7042 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007383 , https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.28.2.05wri
  • Description: preprint , Language policy debate is often obscured by two factors: failure to acknowledge different time-frames attending contrasting positions, and failure to recognise that ordinary people are motivated by their perceived best interests in the present. This article argues that the key to more general public acceptance of linguistic ecological diversity in South Africa is to shift the emphasis from policy development to practical language cultivation issues. Provide the requisite cultivation support, and acceptance of a revitalised future for African languages becomes more assured. It should also be understood that the modernisation of African languages in South Africa has a political dimension concerning which South African language commentators are strangely silent. This political thrust may not be entirely congruent with the concerns of those whose brief for African languages is primarily cultural or ecological – if, indeed, they are even aware of it. Finally, it needs to be recognised that language development under conditions of controlled influence, as in the civil service or schooling, is potentially achievable (with whatever difficulty), but that this must be complemented by authentic contemporary intellectual work published in African languages if the linguistic dimension of the African Renaissance is to take off.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Language rights, intercultural communication and the law in South Africa

- Kaschula, Russell H, Ralarala, Monwabisi K

  • Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Ralarala, Monwabisi K
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa , Courts interpreting and translating -- South Africa , Intercultural communication -- South Africa , Conduct of court proceedings -- South Africa , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Multilingualism -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59434 , vital:27602 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2004.10587242
  • Description: This article seeks to explore the present language scenario in courts of law. The article makes use of section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), as a point of departure. At face value this section seems to entrench the language rights of individuals. This would mean that individuals could request trials to be held in their mother tongues, with fluent and competent speakers of that mother tongue sitting on the bench. However, this has not materialised. Contrary to popular opinion, the article argues that individual language rights are to some extent entrenched in the Constitution, but there are no mechanisms to secure such rights in the public domain. The article argues that it is often only language privileges that are preserved in institutions such as the justice system. Legally speaking, there is an obligation on the State to provide interpreters to facilitate access to all eleven official languages in courts of law. This in itself presents numerous challenges. The article argues further that the corollary to this is that there is very little space for intercultural communication in courts of law (as defined by Ting-Toomey, 1999, and Gibson, 2002). There has been little or no capacity building in this regard. It is English, to some extent Afrikaans, and the western cultural paradigm, which prevails. The result is further communication breakdown and language intolerance. In this article, the notion of language rights in courts of law is explored against the backdrop of existing theories of intercultural communication.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Law and culture in the new constitutional dispensation with specific reference to the custom of circumcision as practiced in the Eastern Cape

- Momoti, Ndyebo Kingsworth

  • Authors: Momoti, Ndyebo Kingsworth
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies Circumcision -- Law and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Initiation rites -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
  • Identifier: vital:3685 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003200
  • Description: This study examines the custom of circumcision in the context of culture, law and the Constitution. In Chapter 1 the writer considers the pervasive role of culture in the context of the current debate in relation to equality versus culture. In Chapter 2 the writer considers the origin, development and the legal significance of the custom of circumcision in the Eastern Cape. In Chapter 3 the writer traces the circumstances leading to the enactment of the Provincial statute governing circumcision of children. In this chapter the writer also poses the question whether an aspect of morality can effectively be regulated by law. Chapter 4 looks at the question of cultural rights in terms of the Constitution and the possible effect of the promulgation of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities Act 19 of 2000 on the approach of the courts in respect of constitutional challenges directed at some aspects of customary law. Chapter 5 looks at the custom of circumcision and the need for the protection of children. The writer raises the issue of the role of traditional leaders in the eradication of abuses associated with circumcision. The last Chapter comments on the reasons for the failure of the new Act governing circumcision in the Province.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Learners' perceptions of creating a collaborative hypermedia product: an exploratory case study at Mount Pleasant Primary School

- du Plessis, André

  • Authors: du Plessis, André
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa Computers -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Education, Elementary -- Activity programs Competency-based education -- South Africa Educational technology -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1663 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003546
  • Description: The Ministry of Education (SICTE, 2002) states that the widespread introduction of computers in schools should support Curriculum 2005 and that computer technology is part and parcel of making schools the center of community life. The vision is to establish Smart Schools: schools that are reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices to prepare learners for the information era (SICTE, 2002). Kafai (1996:71) has found that conventional school assignments rarely give learners the opportunity to spend a great deal of time on complex projects. As a result, many learners have little experience in design: planning, problem solving, researching, dealing with time constraints, modifying expectations and synthesizing everything in a project. Research by Carver, Lehrer, Connell and Erickson (1992); Lehrer, (1993); Lehrer, Erickson and Connell (1994); Kafai (1996); Liu and Hsiao (2002) and Liu (2002) indicates that the design of hypermedia artefacts can assist in providing experience in design. To date, no equivalent research has been conducted in South Africa to ascertain the perceptions of learners regarding the creation of a hypermedia artefact over an extended period of time and whether some of the critical outcomes specified in Curriculum 2005 can be addressed in such a learning-by-design hypermedia project. This study shows that design skills and aspects related to the critical outcomes of Curriculum 2005 can be achieved. Furthermore, it indicates that this kind of project encourages interest, motivation and collaboration. In addition, it suggests that learners experience the role of the teacher as different and prefer such a learning environment. In spite of the positive results, some aspects that need attention for future implementation are suggested.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Lessons Learned In The Global Deployment Of An Open Source Security Solution

- Irwin, Barry V W

  • Authors: Irwin, Barry V W
  • Date: 2004
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428830 , vital:72539 , https://digifors.cs.up.ac.za/issa/2004/Proceedings/Research/023.pdf
  • Description: This paper covers the lessons learned, and the challenges facing the deployment of an Open Source derivative firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution into the established commercially driven Tele-communications arena. The lessons learned and issues discussed are drawn from the author’s own experiences having worked for a global Wireless Application Service Provider over a three year period. Focus is placed on the issues surrounding the integration of the open source equipment with that of the established global Telecommunications players, where compliance to existing network standards was a re-quirement for connectivity. Major stumbling blocks to the acceptance and success of the open source product were the concerns expressed by the Telecommunications Operators relating to interoperability and troubleshooting facilities when interfaced to their existing commercially available equipment and existing rigid telecommunications networks. The processes resulting in the initial decision to utilise an open source solution in preference to commercial offerings are also explored. An open source solution was found to offer higher flexibility and functionali-ty and greater return on investment whilst maintaining a significantly re-duced cost in comparison to commercial solutions available.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Liberal aristocracy & the limits of democracy

- Wareham, Christopher

  • Authors: Wareham, Christopher
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Plato , Aristocracy (Political science) , Liberalism , Democracy , Constitutional law , Civil rights -- Philosophy
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2725 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002855 , Plato , Aristocracy (Political science) , Liberalism , Democracy , Constitutional law , Civil rights -- Philosophy
  • Description: I define and defend a non-democratic authority with the power to annul the decisions of democratic branches of government when such decisions infringe upon citizens’ basic rights and liberties. I refer to this non-democratic authority as Liberal Aristocracy. The argument for Liberal Aristocracy has two parts: the first part demonstrates that Liberal Aristocracy will arrive at decisions that further the moral end of sustaining citizens’ rights; the second part holds that Liberal Aristocracy is a moral means to this end. First, I discuss two existing arguments for non-democratic authorities – Platonic Aristocracy and Constitutional Court Judges. I claim that Plato’s argument is unsuccessful because it relies on controversial metaethical premises that are unlikely to provide a basis for rights. Liberal justifications of the power of Constitutional Courts are argued to be incomplete because they do not designate an authority that is qualified to decide when citizens’ rights are infringed by democratic branches of government. Nor do they show that such an authority is in fact required if citizens’ rights are to be protected. In order to supplement the liberal argument for the power of Constitutional Courts I develop an account of Liberal Aristocracy, which rests on the idea that Constitutional Court Judges should possess moral expertise. I claim that (i) moral expertise qualifies Judges to decide when citizens’ rights are violated by democratic decisions. Furthermore, I argue that (ii) decisions taken democratically will sometimes encroach on citizens’ rights. Claims (i) and (ii) are shown to justify the non-democratic authority of Liberal Aristocracy. The second part of the argument for Liberal Aristocracy examines arguments to the effect that only democratic procedures can be morally legitimate, even if other decision procedures arrive at outcomes that provide greater support for citizens’ rights. Three claims are offered in support of this idea. First, democracy is claimed to be necessary to support deliberation. Second, democracy is seen as the only procedure that can uphold the value of autonomy by securing citizens’ consent. Third, it is argued that non-democratic procedures will not recognise the equal status of citizens. I hold that these three claims are false and that Liberal Aristocratic procedures can be morally legitimate.
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  • Date Issued: 2004

Linda implementations in Java for concurrent systems

- Wells, George C, Chalmers, A G, Clayton, Peter G

  • Authors: Wells, George C , Chalmers, A G , Clayton, Peter G
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430555 , vital:72699 , https://doi.org/10.1002/cpe.794
  • Description: This paper surveys a number of the implementations of Linda that are available in Java. It provides some discussion of their strengths and weaknesses, and pre-sents the results from benchmarking experiments using a network of commodity workstations. Some extensions to the original Linda programming model are also presented and discussed, together with examples of their application to parallel processing problems.
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  • Date Issued: 2004
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