Water footprint assessment to inform water management and policy making in South Africa
- Authors: Pahlow, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68813 , vital:29327 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v41i3.02
- Description: Publisher version , One method to inform decisions with respect to sustainable, efficient and equitable water allocation and use is water footprint assessment (WFA). This paper presents a preliminary WFA of South Africa (SA) based on data for the period 1996-2005. Crop production was found to contribute about 75% of the total water footprint of national production. The total water footprint of crop production is mainly composed of five crops: maize, fodder crops, sugarcane, wheat and sunflower seed, which account for 83% of the crop water footprint. The average water footprint of a South African consumer is 1 255 m3/yr, below the world average of 1 385 m3/yr, and is dominated by the consumption of meat (32%) and cereals (29%). About one fifth of this water footprint of consumption is external to SA. While SA is a net virtual water importer, the virtual water trade analysis revealed that a large share of blue water consumption is related to export. Sustainability concerns are that the major river basins face severe blue-water scarcity for extended periods of the year, and that water pollution levels related to nitrogen and phosphorus were found to be unsustainable in all river basins in SA. Efficient allocation and use of water is investigated by means of comparing the consumptive water footprint to global benchmark values, as well as the economic green- and blue-water productivity and the economic land productivity of the crops cultivated in SA. Furthermore, crops with specific potential for biofuel production are assessed. Lastly, recommendations to address the identified issues are given.
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- Date Issued: 2015
A feminist perspective on autonomism and commoning, with reference to Zimbabwe
- Authors: Alexander, Tarryn , Helliker, Kirk D
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71374 , vital:29838 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2016.1235353
- Description: This article engages with the autonomist Marxism of John Holloway from a feminist standpoint. The positions developed by this feminist critique are used to shed new light on the land occupations in contemporary Zimbabwe. Though sympathetic to his work, we argue that Holloway does not sufficiently address gender identity with specific reference to social reproduction and women. The notions of the commons and the process of commoning are consistent with Holloway’s autonomist framework and its complementarities to Silvia Federici’s Marxist feminist lens on the commons is highlighted. Against a tendency within autonomist and commoning theories, we argue for a pronounced identitarian politics as grounded in localised struggles undertaken by women as women. We privilege the significance of women asserting and revaluing their identities as part of a possible project of transformation. For us, struggling against and beyond what exists is invariably rooted in struggles within what exists (including identities).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
A passive auxiliary circuit with interphase transformer applied in 12-pulse converters to provide clean power utility interface
- Authors: Shih, Der-Chun , Young, Chung-Ming , Whiteley, Chris G
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67095 , vital:29031 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02533839.2016.1230029
- Description: publisher version , This paper proposes a passive auxiliary circuit which can be added to an interphase transformer (PAC + IPT) configuration to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) existing in 12-pulse diode rectifier converter systems at AC mains. The proposed PAC + IPT compensation method is a simple structure, with low power consumption and requires no extra DC power supply. We present the theoretical analysis of the proposed topology that lessens the total harmonic distortion (THD) and evaluate the dynamic simulation results on a 12-pulse converter system and a 3-kW laboratory prototype. Both the simulation and the experimental results show that the proposed PAC + IPT compensation method can improve the power quality and provide a clean power utility interface of AC line input currents for a conventional 12-pulse diode rectifier converter.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Constructions of roles in studio teaching and learning
- Authors: Belluigi, Dina Z
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59792 , vital:27651 , https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12042
- Description: Various constructions of supervisors and students emerge from education literature on art, design and architecture studio pedagogy. Constructions of the supervisor within the studio and during assessment are considered, with a discussion of the threads which underpin them. This is followed by a discussion of some of the current dominant constructions of the student, and possible effects of these roles and relationships on their engagement with learning. As many of these constructions may be inherited or unconscious, a concern for the agency of those involved to rupture, subvert, rescript or resist such constructions motivates this research, while acknowledging that this may be limited by structural and cultural contexts.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Effects of substrate on essential fatty acids produced by phytobenthos in an austral temperate river system
- Authors: Dalu, Tatenda , Galloway, Aaron W E , Richoux, Nicole B , Froneman, P William
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68002 , vital:29179 , https://doi.org/10.1086/688698
- Description: Publisher version , Aquatic and riparian habitats increasingly are affected by anthropogenic stressors, but the effects of these stressors on the nutritional quality of primary producers are often unknown. We compared essential fatty acids (EFAs) in the phytobenthos (benthic algae) growing on different substrate types (bricks, clay tiles, rocks, macrophytes, and sediments) at 2 river sites subject to differing anthropogenic stressors (using nutrient concentration as a proxy) in a temperate southern hemisphere location. We hypothesized that the fatty acid (FA) content of phytobenthos changes in response to shifts in local nutrient availability but not substrate type. EFA content (18∶2ω6, 18∶3ω3, 20∶4ω6, 20∶5ω3, and 22∶6ω3) in the phytobenthos differed overall among substrates, sites, and seasons and was generally greater in summer than in autumn and winter. EFA content was significantly greater on artificial than natural substrates and was greater at the nutrient-enriched downstream site than at the upstream site. The response of EFA content at the downstream site suggests that land use affected the synthesis of EFAs by phytobenthos and, hence, food quality for aquatic consumers. These findings indicate a potential link between physical factors, such as substrate availability and land management, and the quality of basal food resources available to primary consumers in aquatic food webs.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Film production incentives, employment transformation and domestic expenditure in South Africa: visualizing subsidy effectiveness
- Authors: Collins, Alan , Ishizaka, Alessio , Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67456 , vital:29094 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2016.1255206
- Description: Publisher version , In 2004 the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) introduced a Film and Television Production Rebate Programme. In order to qualify for the rebate, certain criteria have to be met including success in job creation and skills development within the industry, alongside a particular focus on the percentage of ‘historically disadvantaged individuals’ employed. This study sets out the issues associated with evaluating success in meeting these various criteria and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study to apply multi-criteria visualization techniques to inform the evaluation of public subsidy effectiveness. The ‘PROMETHEE’ method is applied and apart from presenting project performance in a visually intuitive manner, the approach helps to clarify patterns of relative success, show where policy objectives are competing, and to identify project exemplars for more efficiently guiding future public support in the sector.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Interpreting press coverage of South Africa’s post-apartheid “obesity epidemic”:
- Authors: Vincent, Louise , Malan, Chantelle
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141866 , vital:38011 , DOI: 10.1080/21604851.2015.1015397
- Description: This study examines news reporting on South Africa’s alleged “obesity” epidemic between 1997 and 2012. Results indicate that fatness is equated with disease, crisis, and dysfunction and the fat black body is singled out for particular attention as a social problem. News reporting on fat in South Africa uncritically takes up the views of sources with commercial interests who are presented as “experts” on fat. Their interpretations of the fat black body as a social problem are influenced by the imperative of new markets for products that are to be found principally in the ranks of the post-apartheid black middle class.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Trophic interactions in an austral temperate ephemeral pond inferred using stable isotope analysis
- Authors: Dalu, Tatenda , Weyl, Olaf L F , Froneman, P William , Wasserman, Ryan J
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68022 , vital:29185 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2533-5
- Description: Publisher version , Ephemeral ponds are vulnerable aquatic habitats which are difficult to protect given their dynamic nature and sensitivity to degradation during dry periods. Little information is available on these habitats in austral regions, with almost no information on food-web structure and complexity. The study aimed to assess trophic interactions among dominant organisms in an ephemeral pond food web, and investigate the importance of autochthonous and allochthonous carbon, using 13C and 15N isotopes. Results of the investigation suggest that the food web comprised four trophic levels, with the top predators being Notonectids (Notonecta sp.) and diving beetles (Cybister tripunctatus (Olivier)). Intermediary trophic levels comprised zooplankton (daphniids and copepodids), macroinvertebrates (e.g. micronectids and molluscs) and tadpoles. Generalist feeders dominated the higher trophic levels (>3) with specialists comprising the lower trophic levels (≤3). The consumers preferred autochthonous fine particulate organic matter, epiphyton and submerged macrophyte organic matter sources over allochthonous sources. Autochthonous organic matter was transferred to the food web via zooplankton and select macroinvertebrates including Micronecta sp. and Physa sp. The food-web structure within the pond appeared to reflect the secondary stage of trophic structural complexity in the evolution of ephemeral ponds over the course of their hydro-period.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Aesthetic and spiritual ecosystem services provided by urban sacred sites
- Authors: De Lacy, Peter J G , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60919 , vital:27891 , http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su9091628
- Description: The range and use of ecosystem services provided by urban sacred sites has hardly been considered in studies of urban ecology, sustainability and human wellbeing. This paper examines the perceived ecosystem services supplied by green spaces or gardens associated with places of religious worship and appreciated by worshippers in a mid-sized town in South Africa. A questionnaire with open, closed and Likert scale questions was administered at 30 places of worship (25 with gardens and five without). Respondents identified a wide diversity of ecosystem services provided by gardens, with social ones being more recognized than ecological, and economic services the least. Approximately two-thirds of respondents visited a sacred site garden weekly or more often. The majority of respondents (96%) felt that a garden was necessary because it added to their feelings of connection with God, or helped them relax and so be better able to concentrate, and 54% stated that a garden enhanced their overall spiritual experience. Regression analysis revealed that aesthetic appreciation of a garden was significantly related to woody plant species richness, number and basal area in the garden. On the other hand, spiritual experience was positively related to woody plant basal area, but not species richness nor tree number. Neither size of the garden, nor number of years the respondents had been vising a particular sacred site had any influence on the rated spiritual or aesthetic experiences. These results reveal the widely appreciated ecosystem services provided by urban sacred spaces and their centrality in enhancing spiritual satisfaction for some.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Alice in Wonderland: translating to read across Africa
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174901 , vital:42520 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2016.1160827
- Description: This article comments on various translation strategies aiming at equivalence used by translators when reworking Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland into nine African languages. The back translations provided by the translators form the basis for the discussion [Lindseth, Jon, ed. 2015. Alice in a World of Wonderlands. Volume 1: Essays. Delaware: Oak Knoll Press]. This article provides examples and discussion of how African language translators deviated from the original text and it analyses the possible reasons for doing so, both linguistic and socio-cultural. The way in which translators created an African voice in the target languages is discussed by analysing their reflective essays and back translations.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Colonised minds?: post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
- Authors: Matthews, Sally
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142213 , vital:38059 , DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1279540
- Description: While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confronts when faced with the continued desire on the part of many people in Africa for development.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Community-based natural resource use and management of Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, Uganda, for livelihood benefits
- Authors: Gosling, Amanda , Shackleton, Charlie M , Gambiza, James
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60844 , vital:27839 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-017-9546-y
- Description: publisher version , Conservation and sustainable management of wetlands requires participation of local stakeholders, including communities. The Bigodi Wetland is unusual because it is situated in a common property landscape but the local community has been running a successful community-based natural resource management programme (CBNRM) for the wetland for over a decade. Whilst external visitors to the wetland provide ecotourism revenues we sought to quantify community benefits through the use of wetland goods such as firewood, plant fibres, and the like, and costs associated with wild animals damaging farming activities. We interviewed 68 households living close to the wetland and valued their cash and non-cash incomes from farming and collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and water. The majority of households collected a wide variety of plant and fish resources and water from the wetland for household use and livestock. Overall, 53% of total household cash and non-cash income was from collected products, mostly the wetland, 28% from arable agriculture, 12% from livestock and 7% from employment and cash transfers. Female-headed households had lower incomes than male-headed ones, and with a greater reliance on NTFPs. Annual losses due to wildlife damage were estimated at 4.2% of total gross income. Most respondents felt that the wetland was important for their livelihoods, with more than 80% identifying health, education, craft materials and firewood as key benefits. Ninety-five percent felt that the wetland was in a good condition and that most residents observed the agreed CBNRM rules regarding use of the wetland. This study confirms the success of the locally run CBNRM processes underlying the significant role that the wetland plays in local livelihoods.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Cosmopolitanism and the unfollowable routines and rituals in Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret:
- Authors: Dass, Minesh
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142531 , vital:38088 , DOI: 10.1080/02564718.2017.1290382
- Description: This article explores how Ishtiyaq Shukri’s The Silent Minaret critiques the limited and severely uneven forms of hospitality that characterise post-9/11 Britain. It also examines how the text gestures towards the possibility of a non-violent, inclusive cosmopolitanism. The piece begins by relating recent debates surrounding the “War on Terror”, as well as Britain’s decision to leave the European Union to the novel’s major concerns. It then turns to the novel, and summarises incidents in which the principal character, Issa Shamshuddin, is traumatised and harmed by the Islamophobia and anti-immigration policies evident in the London portrayed in the text. Next, it turns to an analysis of the strange and irreproducible rituals of Issa’s neighbour, Frances. The article concludes that that these unfollowable rituals posit how a truly cosmopolitan society would function.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Dose response and kinetic analysis of thermoluminescence of Li–Zn fluoroborate glass
- Authors: Thomas, Sunil , Chithambo, Makaiko L
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116164 , vital:34326 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10420150.2017.1313844
- Description: The intention of this study is to explore the thermoluminescence properties of beta-irradiated Li–Zn fluoroborate glass. The glow-curve corresponding to 10 Gy shows two peaks when measured at 1°C/s. The dose response of the glass to beta irradiation was investigated. The trapping level parameters such as activation energy, frequency factor and order of kinetics associated with the observed glow-peak were determined using different methods. The thermoluminescence is affected by thermal quenching. A possible mechanism for the thermoluminescence is described.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Evil and the Hero-Villain Binary in Deon Meyer’s Post-Apartheid Crime Thriller, Devil’s Peak:
- Authors: Naidu, Samantha , van der Wielen, Karlien
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/157991 , vital:40137 , ISBN 9781498533423
- Description: The Functions of Evil Across Disciplinary Contexts explores answers to two important questions about the age-old theme of evil: is there any use in using the concept of evil in cultural, psychological, or other secular evaluations of the world and its productions? Most importantly, if there is, what might these functions be? By looking across several disciplines and analyzing evil as it is referenced across a broad spectrum of phenomena, this work demonstrates the varying ways that we interact with the ethical dilemma as academics, as citizens, and as people. The work draws from authors in different fields—including history, literary and film studies, philosophy, and psychology—and from around the world to provide an analysis of evil in such topics as deeply canonical as Beowulf and Shakespeare to subjects as culturally resonant as Stephen King, Captain America, or the War on Terror. By bringing together this otherwise disparate collection of scholarship, this collection reveals that discussions of evil across disciplines have always been questions of how cultures represent that which they find socially abhorrent. This work thus opens the conversation about evil outside of field-specific limitations, simultaneously demonstrating the assumptions that undergird the manner by which such a conversation proceeds.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Forensic entomotoxicology revisited: towards professional standardisation of study designs
- Authors: da Silva, Erica I T , Wilhelmi, Brendan S , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140819 , vital:37921 , DOI: 10.1007/s00414-017-1603-9
- Description: Forensic entomotoxicology is the use of insects as evidence of whether a toxicant is present in an environment such as a corpse, river or landscape. The earliest overtly forensic study was published in 1977, and since then, at least 63 papers have been published, most of them focused on the detection of toxicants in insects or on effects of toxicants on diverse insect indicator taxa. A comprehensive review of the published literature revealed various inconsistencies between studies that could be addressed by introducing standard protocols for such studies. These protocols could include selecting widespread and common model organisms (such as Lucilia sericata, Calliphora vicina, Chrysomya megacephala and Dermestes maculatus) and model toxicants (e.g. morphine and amitriptyline) to build up comparative databases; developing a standard matrix for use as a feeding substrate; setting guidelines for statistically adequate sample sizes; and deploying more sophisticated analytical methods from the general field of toxicology.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Fuelwood preferences, use and availability in the #Khomani San resettlement farms, southern Kalahari, South Africa
- Authors: Nott, Michelle , Thondhlana, Gladman
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67667 , vital:29127 , https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2017.1294507
- Description: Publisher version , Local level assessments of fuelwood preferences, demand and supply are important for ensuring a balance between ecological functions and livelihood needs. This study reports on an examination of fuelwood preferences, use and abundance in the #Khomani San resettlement farms in southern Kalahari, South Africa. The results show that Acacia erioloba was the most preferred fuelwood species, while Acacia mellifera was abundant but avoided. Across the study area, there were approximately 64 trees ha−1 but riverine sites had significantly more trees (approximately 80 trees ha−1) than non-riverine sites (48 trees ha−1). Live trees showed evidence of damage (cutting or breaking) and this was more pronounced in the riverine sites (close to human settlement) than in the non-riverine sites. However, overall current woody stocks and productivity rates of harvestable fuelwood are well above current fuelwood demand, suggesting fuelwood use may be within sustainable limits, though there is evidence of localised fuelwood depletion. The implications of these results for fuelwood management interventions, including the importance of context, are discussed.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Integrating writing development in curricula: writing intensive project case studies
- Authors: Thomson, Carol I
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Book , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59580 , vital:27628
- Description: These case studies come from work done in the Writing Intensive Project (WIP) from its inception in 2013 until 2016 when formal funding from a Teacher Development Grant from the National Department of Higher Education ended. The project was unique for Rhodes University as it was the first time an intervention of this kind had ever been directed specifically at undergraduate writing development and support in the disciplines, and secondly, that participation by discipline-based academics in the project was entirely voluntary, thereby exemplifying a significant level of agency.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Towards professional learning communities: A review
- Authors: Tshiningayamwe, Sirkka , Songqwaru, Zintle
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436305 , vital:73256 , ISBN 978-3-319-45989-9 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45989-9_19
- Description: Professional learning communities (PLCs) have proven to be effective models of teachers’ professional development. Therefore, for effective Education for Sustainable Develop-ment (ESD), PLCs should be considered in the planning of teacher professional development initiatives. This will enable teachers to address issues of quality teaching, learning and sustainable development issues. In the South African context, a ‘professional learning community’ is an emerging policy con-cept. This chapter thus provides a review of the emergence of teacher clusters in South Africa using a reflexive spiral model and praxis tasks. The chapter also draws from the Namibian and South African teacher cluster literature to comment on how teacher clusters could potentially be translated into PLCs to transform teachers’ practices as they relate to ESD.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Assessment of the likely sensitivity to climate change for the key marine species in the southern Benguela system
- Authors: Ortega-Cisneros, Kelly , Yokwana, Sibusiso , Sauer, Warwick H H , Cochrane, Kevern L , James, Nicola C , Potts, Warren M , Singh, L , Smale, Malcolm J , Wood, A , Pecl, Gretta T
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123211 , vital:35415 , https://doi.10.2989/1814232X.2018.1512526
- Description: Climate change is altering many environmental parameters of coastal waters and open oceans, leading to substantial present-day and projected changes in the distribution, abundance and phenology of marine species. Attempts to assess how each species might respond to climate change can be data-, resource- and time-intensive. Moreover, in many regions of the world, including South Africa, species may be of vital socioeconomic or ecological importance though critical gaps may exist in our basic biological or ecological knowledge of the species. Here, we adapt and apply a trait-based sensitivity assessment for the key marine species in the southern Benguela system to estimate their potential relative sensitivity to the impacts of climate change. For our analysis, 40 priority species were selected based on their socioeconomic, ecological and/or recreational importance in the system. An extensive literature review and consultation with experts was undertaken concerning each species to gather information on their life history, habitat use and potential stressors. Fourteen attributes were used to estimate the selected species’ sensitivity and capacity to respond to climate change. A score ranging from low to high sensitivity was given for each attribute, based on the available information. Similarly, a score was assigned to the type and quality of information used to score each particular attribute, allowing an assessment of data-quality inputs for each species. The analysis identified the white steenbras Lithognathus lithognathus, soupfin shark Galeorhinus galeus, St Joseph Callorhinchus capensis and abalone Haliotis midae as potentially the most sensitive species to climate-change impacts in the southern Benguela system. There were data gaps for larval dispersal and settlement and metamorphosis cues for most of the evaluated species. Our results can be used by resource managers to determine the type of monitoring, intervention and planning that may be required to best respond to climate change, given the limited resources and significant knowledge gaps in many cases.
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- Date Issued: 2018