Transcendence and immanence into or onto creative pluralism in South Africa

Two philosophical tools are used in this article, namely (1) that of philosophical-pluralism and (2) transcendent pluralism as a kind of glue to enhance our examining of creative pluralism. There is a diversity implant in positive modus of understanding this pluralistic pristine of creative pluralism within transcendence modus. To help facilitate this pluralistic pristine, the author makes use of three constructivist paradigms that are distinguished and used, namely (1) exogenous constructivism (rooted in a mechanistic metaphor) emphasising the reconstruction of structures preformed in the environment; (2) endogenous constructivism (rooted in an organismic metaphor) emphasising the coordination of previous organismic structures and (3) dialectical constructivism (rooted in a contextualistic metaphor) emphasising the construction of new structures out of organism and environmental interaction. Contribution: The aim of this article is to present a coherent metatheory by specifying the boundary conditions in which each root metaphor (constructive pluralism) best applies. These above-mentioned versions of pluralism as tools are a reminiscence and a jubilee of the efforts made by sapiens through diversity onto or into pluralism to enable the religious hamlet to think and share. This pluralistic approach of orientation, I hope, will empower sapiens in their respective hamlets to define, articulate and designate to enhance their own epistemological and ontological vantage points wherefrom their individual, coherent and contextual ways of thinking, acting and projecting their lives in a positive modus by emphasising the reconstructions of their performance in their environment

Die Iliosakrale Gewrig: Die rol vervul in die vroulike bekken

No Abstrac

Notes on structural analysis in a distributed collaboratory

The worldwide growth of communication networks and associated technologies provide the basic infrastructure for new ways of executing the engineering process. Collaboration amongst team members seperated in time and location is of particular importance. Two broad themes can be recognized in research pertaining to distributed collaboration. One theme focusses on the technical and technological aspects of distributed work, while the other emphasises human aspects thereof. The case of finite element structural analysis in a distributed collaboratory is examined in this paper. An approach is taken which has its roots in human aspects of the structural analysis task. Based on experience of how structural engineers currently approach and execute this task while utilising standard software designed for use on local workstations only, criteria are stated for a software architechture that could support collaborative structural analysis. Aspects of a pilot application and the results of qualitative performance measurements are discussed

The Effect of Fermentation Time (as Induced by Fermentation and Must Conditions) on the Chemical Profile and Quality of a Chenin blanc Wine

Pattern recognition and simple factorial analyses were applied to chemical profiles determined on wines resulting from an experiment in which the effect of grape solids, assimilable nitrogen, bentonite and fermentation temperaturelevels as well as culture aeration on total fermentation time was investigated. It was found that fermentation times of the untreated Chenin blanc must could be shortened considerably by increasing grape solid levels and/ or nitrogen as well as temperature. However, it was established that the speeding up of fermentation at sub-optimal assimilable nitrogen levels leads to wines relatively high in higher alcohols and low in esters

Business orientation and the food security status of small scale producers in the Venda region, South Africa

Questions addressed in this paper are: How to determine the food status of rural households; and does an agribusiness orientation enhance the food security status of farm families. A study was conducted on two groups of small scale black farmers in the Venda region: one group, agribusiness directed and generally more progressive towards technology, produces mangos and other subtropical fruits (cash crop farmers); the other group concentrates on locally consumed and sold vegetables (food crop farmers). Their food status was quantitatively determined by means of household energy, protein and fat balances and food security determinants were identified. More than 80% of the households had a negative balance for energy, protein or fat. Business orientation and farming type in this particular case study does not influence the energy, protein and fat coverage significantly. The marginal nature of farming by these small holders could explain this finding. Significant predictors of food security status were rather factors such as the household size and the availability of outside sources of income and cash to spend on food.Agribusiness, Food Security and Poverty,

Why agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa remains low compared to the rest of the world – a historical perspective

Agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa has, in recent times, remained lower than the rest of the world. Many attribute this to factors inherent to Africa and its people, such as climate, soil quality, slavery and disease. This article traces the role of agriculture through history and argues that these are not the main reasons. Before the arrival of European traders, complex agricultural systems existed, which supported food security, manufacturing and trade. External interference manipulated these systems in pursuit of export crops. Independence has not fundamentally changed this; resource and wealth extraction continue to inhibit economic development for Africans in Africa

Scaling up HIV testing in resourceconstrained settings: Debates on the role of VCT and Routine ‘Opt-in or Opt-out\' HIV Testing

Scaling up of the numbers of people voluntarily undergoing HIV testing has become vital, especially in resource-constrained settings, where the need for knowledge of HIV status for both prevention and care is critical. The reality is that for most people in Africa, access to HIV testing and to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) has been very limited, and this has human rights implications – missing the opportunity to be diagnosed with a disease that is now well understood, manageable and treatable means certain death. The key challenge in our current context is how scaling up of HIV testing should be done. In responding to this challenge, we are guided by Gruskin and Loff,1 who state that ‘A human rights approach mandates that any public strategy, whether or not rights are to be restricted, be informed by evidence and widely debated. This approach protects against unproved and potentially counterproductive strategies, even those motivated by the genuine despair in the face of overwhelming public health challenges.\' This article describes the arguments and discussion raised during a session on models for increasing access to HIV testing at the 2nd National Conference on HIV/AIDS held in Durban in June 2005. It describes the legal framework for HIV testing in South Africa, frames the issues at the heart of the debate, and describes and discusses the various models of HIV testing, routine HIV testing, VCT and mandatory or compulsory HIV testing, within the context of HIV prevention and care. It concludes with recommendations. Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine Vol. 6 (3) 2005: pp. 45-4

Involving Stakeholders in Crop-Livestock Systems Analysis: Innovation Platforms in Burkina Faso and Niger, West Africa

The development of markets and agricultural productivity need participative research approaches that involve farmers, stakeholders and actors in the value chains of agricultural products and inputs. This study illustrates the use of multi-stakeholder platforms to address critical issues that often curtail effective implementation of development strategies and achievement of objectives. The process used to facilitate stakeholder participation and achieve enhanced understanding of collective actions to achieve objectives is illustrated by case studies in Niger and Burkina Faso. The process that determines the causal relationships among the various problems is also presented; results from the process can be used to determine entry points for addressing system challenges. Finally, the study offers specific insights and analysis related to small-ruminant and feed value chains within Niger and Burkina Faso. The strengths and weaknesses of each node of the value chain are assessed and appropriate upgrading, management, and development strategies suggested. Entry points for action and strategies for intervention are identified to improve functioning of the crop-livestock value chain and the productivity of agro-pastoral farming systems. Participative analysis and understanding of the functioning of agricultural value chains enable farmers and actors to improve agricultural productivity and marketing. The multi-stakeholder platform approach is a more suitable tool for socio-economic analysis of integrated systems, and identification and implementation of development strategies, than traditional disciplinary research approaches

A systematic theological comparison of religious iconography: Referring to Groeber and Kinkade

Iconography and symbolism of religion, correspondingly, are vital and convoluted aesthetic patterns and kinetics in a well-used foundational manner to transcend religious theories and the optical, audible and gesture depictions of religious intelligence with narratives. Iconography and symbolism of religion gain autonomy from all world religions. Subsequently, during the 20th centennial, a few academics emphasized the significance of religious spirit to persuade in citing religion as a rational entity. The symbolic condition of religion is alike viewed by a few academics of mythos and psyche as essential idiosyncratic with a religious explanation. Academics from provisional religionists, developmentalists and psychiatrists harvested with explanation the vast plethora of data on the emphasised views within religion, notably within association with East as well as Western religions. In the new liturgical theology of Christian formalities, additional appraisal of religiously emphasised syntax has transpired. Contribution: In this article, kinetics of symbols and visuals that are presented in a specific pattern and tenacious accord to the structure, subject matter and motives of the proposal are proclaimed to be among the most profound ways of experiencing and articulating religious details. Such patterns, as I think Prof. Johan Buitendag would agree, also add to the care and reinforced accords between sapiens3 with its domain that is revered or divine transcendental, metaphysical magnitude. That is what this article is about

Computational fluid dynamic based optimisation of an industrial axial fan for rapid prototyping

Axial air flow fans are widely used for air movement. In an increasingly international and competitive market, smaller fan companies find themselves in need of rapid preliminary design. This need is addressed in this study through the development of a first-revision, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based, optimisation tool which allows for rapid prototyping of a ducted axial fan. The result is an ElementalTM-based multi-disciplinary software tool, comprising 2D CFD, mesh movement, and constrained geometric optimisation. The analytical equation employed to represent the aerofoil significantly reduces the cost of the optimisation. A pseudo-3D fan model is generated by superimposing 2D CFD results. This is done without the general assumption of the free-vortex method, which is not a necessity for fan design and other velocity distributions may be used. For this purpose, an enhanced finite volume discretisation method was developed. A penalty function minimisation, by means of an unconstrained optimisation algorithm, is implemented thereafter. The primary objective is to deliver a specific fan static pressure rise, while optimising for fan static efficiency by means of altering the rotor blade geometry. The spherical quadratic steepest descent method is employed, which does not rely on any explicit line searches, as required by traditional steepest descent techniques. The rapid prototyping tool is finally applied to an under-performing base fan (Fan-D) which cannot meet a specified duty point. The resulting optimised fan (Fan-Optim) is manufactured and experimentally tested, in accordance with the ISO 5801 standard. The pseudo-3D model is proven to predict fan performance accurately at the target duty point, while capturing fan behaviour over a range of volumetric flow rates. The former is to within 13% of the fan static pressure rise and within 2.3% of fan static efficiency. While Fan-Optim meets the desired duty point within 2%, it offers a considerable improvement in fan static efficiency over Fan-D. Furthermore, an approximate 38% reduction in blade material is achieved as a secondary effect