WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? Social crime prevention in SA: A critical overview

Crime prevention is a relatively new enterprise in South Africa, and the nature of progress in this area has been mixed. While much activity has been noted, particularly among civil society organisations, the generation and utilisation of information is an area of weakness. Key questions remain: how to promote government accountability for service delivery, and how crime prevention advocates engage with issues such as human rights and the strengthening of democracy

YOUNG GUNS: Children in organised armed violence

The problem of gangs is not new to South Africa. This is one of the reasons that Cape Town has been included in an innovative international study that has identified the phenomenon of ‘children in organised armed violence’. Given the youthfulness of South Africa’s population, as well as levels of poverty and unemployment, the risk factors for children’s involvement in armed gangs as recorded by the international study should serve as an early warning to us

ABUSE OF A DIFFERENT KIND: Adults using children to commit crime

In terms of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 of 1999, adults using children to commit criminal offences is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour. Through an ILO and Department of Labour programme focusing on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in South Africa, a study was undertaken to explore this issue, and engaged 541 children in consultation. The results of the study are discussed, and the value that such studies hold for crime analysis is briefly considered

COSTING CRIME: What value is there for policy making?

Studies that purport to count the cost of crime have wide appeal in the private and public sectors, and in the media. Information on the cost of a particular problem and its solution can no doubt assist decision makers. But in the case of crime, assessing the ‘cost’ is so fraught with difficulty that the results hardly seem worth the effort. Some kinds of ‘cost of crime’ studies are more beneficial to the policy process than others, and the findings need to be used with great care

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: How social service delivery can prevent crime

The Departments of Education, Health and Social Development bear the main responsibility for taking care of South Africa’s children through the fulfilment of their core functions, as well as various interdepartmental programmes. These services and programmes provide many important opportunities for crime prevention. This article assesses the potential of these three departments to help prevent crime among children and youth up to the age of 18

ALSSAT Version 6.0

Advanced Life Support Sizing Analysis Tool (ALSSAT) at the time of this reporting has been updated to version 6.0. A previous version was described in Tool for Sizing Analysis of the Advanced Life Support System (MSC- 23506), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 12 (December 2005), page 43. To recapitulate: ALSSAT is a computer program for sizing and analyzing designs of environmental-control and life-support systems for spacecraft and surface habitats to be involved in exploration of Mars and the Moon. Of particular interest for analysis by ALSSAT are conceptual designs of advanced life-support (ALS) subsystems that utilize physicochemical and biological processes to recycle air and water and process human wastes to reduce the need of resource resupply. ALSSAT is a means of investigating combinations of such subsystems technologies featuring various alternative conceptual designs and thereby assisting in determining which combination is most cost-effective. ALSSAT version 6.0 has been improved over previous versions in several respects, including the following additions: an interface for reading sizing data from an ALS database, computational models of a redundant regenerative CO2 and Moisture Removal Amine Swing Beds (CAMRAS) for CO2 removal, upgrade of the Temperature & Humidity Control's Common Cabin Air Assembly to a detailed sizing model, and upgrade of the Food-management subsystem

Analysis of a Mixture of Several Dihalonicotinic Acids by Gas Chromotography and Gas Chromotography-Mass Spectrometry

Six 2,5- and 5,6- dihalonicotinic acids in a mixture were converted to their corresponding methyl esters and then analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Four methods of conversion were compared for their GC sensitivity, efficiency and analysis time. In Method #1, using HC1 and methanol as the reagents, the displacement of the halogens by chlorine (from HC1) at 2- and 6-positions was a common occurrence, rendering the method inefficient. In Method #2 (BF3/methanol), the displacement of halogens by methoxide was evident. Method #3 (dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/methanol) produced a mixture of derivatives with a poor yield. Method #4 (diazomethane) gave a quantitative yield of the corresponding methyl esters without any side reactions and was suitable for analytical method development. The latest method provided short analysis time with all six methyl dihalonicotinates eluting within nineteen minutes. The resolution of the ester peaks was excellent and the detection limit was about 1ng/|Mu L for the dihalonicotinic acids

Evaluating Impacts of Five Years of Beginning Farmer Webinar Training

The Michigan State University Extension Beginning Farmer Webinar Series has been implemented statewide since 2012. For the period 2012–2016, 63 webinars were provided to 607 participants. Regular evaluation efforts capture impact data from participants 6 to 10 months after they complete the series. However, to determine longer range impacts of the program, we developed a follow-up online evaluation and distributed it via email invitation to 2012–2016 participants for whom contact information was available. The evaluation results indicate an encouraging level of impact with regard to knowledge retained, farm practices changed, and positive economic metrics such as new farm start-ups and new jobs

On Inventory Strategies of Online Retailers

This study focuses on inventory strategies of Internet retailers (etailers). The etailer faces options of holding her own inventory or outsourcing through the third party(ies). We assess etailer inventory strategies through mathematical modelling and numerical experiments. When ordering and holding her own stock, the etailer has full control of the order fulfillment process but bears the inventory-related risk. When outsourcing stock, etailer’s orders may not get an equal priority as for those of the third party’s own. Built upon simple operations research models, the numerical experiments suggest that the etailer is better off relying on others to fulfill orders if her demand (profit margin) is low, but should revert to the strategy of maintaining her own inventory if her sales volume (profit margin) is relatively high. Other factors are also investigated. These findings seem to confirm what are being practised in the industry

Analysis Methods for Progressive Damage of Composite Structures

This document provides an overview of recent accomplishments and lessons learned in the development of general progressive damage analysis methods for predicting the residual strength and life of composite structures. These developments are described within their State-of-the-Art (SoA) context and the associated technology barriers. The emphasis of the authors is on developing these analysis tools for application at the structural level. Hence, modeling of damage progression is undertaken at the mesoscale, where the plies of a laminate are represented as a homogenous orthotropic continuum. The aim of the present effort is establish the ranges of validity of available models, to identify technology barriers, and to establish the foundations of the future investigation efforts. Such are the necessary steps towards accurate and robust simulations that can replace some of the expensive and time-consuming "building block" tests that are currently required for the design and certification of aerospace structures