HIV/AIDS, Security and Conflict: New Realities, New Responses

Ten years after the HIV/AIDS epidemic itself was identified as a threat to international peace and security, findings from the three-year AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI)(1) present evidence of the mutually reinforcing dynamics linking HIV/AIDS, conflict and security

The food intake, activity pattern and energy expenditure of male indian students

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Reactions to infant death by wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: prolonged carrying, non-mother carrying, and partial maternal cannibalism.

Observations of dead infant carrying have been reported for many primate species, and researchers have proposed several hypotheses to explain this behaviour. However, despite being a relatively well-studied species, reports of dead infant carrying in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) remain scarce. Here we report 14 observations of dead infant carrying by female vervet monkeys in a population at Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Most of the females carried the dead infant for a day or less, but one female carried her infant for at least 14 days. In one case the maternal sister of a dead infant carried it after the death of their mother. We also report a case of mother-infant cannibalism: a female consumed part of her deceased infant's tail. Other post-mortem care-taking behaviours such as grooming, smelling and licking were also recorded. Of 97 recorded infant deaths in this study population since 2010, 14.4% are known to have elicited dead infant carrying, a proportion similar to that reported for other monkey species. We discuss our observations in relation to various hypotheses about this behaviour, including the post-parturition hormones hypothesis, learning to mother hypothesis, and unawareness of death hypothesis

Laboratory method design for investigating the phytoremediation of polluted water

The performance of plants to remove, remediate or immobilise environmental contaminants in a growth matrix through natural biological, chemical or physical activities was studied in a laboratory phytoremediation system. This study aimed to develop a novel phytoremediation system capable of investigating the remediation of agricultural pollutants by individual and multiple plant species. The designed system analysed community phytoremediation by uniquely implementing multiple plant species within the same growth silo, with indigenous and alien assemblages compared to establish community performance, highlighting the importance of biodiversity in plant assemblages. The constructed system successfully analysed the phytoremediatory capabilities of plant species within the critically endangered Renosterveld vegetation type, with unvegetated soil controls included to illustrate the pollutant removal efficiency of plants only. Growth silos were constructed from PVC piping and irrigated with drippers from a submersible pump. Eighteen different plant species were included in the experiment, i.e., 14 indigenous species, 3 invasive alien plant (IAP) species, and Palmiet. Five agricultural pollutant parameters were analysed, i.e., for fertilizers NH3 -N, NO3 −-N and PO4 3−-P and for herbicide contamination using two glyphosate concentrations. The growth silos and unvegetated soil control were irrigated using a pollutant–municipal water solution at 3-day intervals. The multiple plants per silo design approach seeks to contribute to the limited literature pertaining heterogeneity importance, by comparing the pollutant removal performance of plant assemblages. Community comparison further investigated the biofilter implementation potential of indigenous South African plants as an alternative to their more invasive alien counterparts, adding to the knowledge base of plant-based phytoremediation by indigenous South African plant species. The laboratory phytoremediation system successfully measured the agricultural pollutant removal performance of individual plants and vegetative communities, with soil remediation influence acknowledged. The proposed system is a simple and inexpensive method for obtaining the plant-based biofiltration efficiency of individual and multiple plant species.Keywords: experimental design, phytoremediation, water quality, bioremediatio

The potential use of plant species within a Renosterveld landscape for the phytoremediation of glyphosate and fertiliser

In South Africa, fertiliser and herbicide pollutants resulting from agricultural practices indirectly lead to the degradation of surface freshwater and groundwater quality. Nitrogen and phosphorus, and glyphosate, derived from agricultural fertiliser and herbicide applications, respectively, contribute to watercourse toxicity. Adjacent to many of the surface freshwater systems are some of South Africa’s most productive agricultural lands, where natural ecosystems are converted to croplands, resulting in the degradation of natural vegetation and deterioration of freshwater quality. The critically endangered status of some Renosterveld vegetation types is the product of agricultural expansion, nutrient loading through fertilisation and the spraying of herbicides. A buffer of Renosterveld vegetation along river corridors may contribute to the remediation of agricultural pollutants prior to entering watercourses. The utilisation of wetland plants occurring within Renosterveld for agricultural pollutant extraction can increase river corridor biodiversity, creating indigenous refuges and facilitating habitat connectivity. A laboratory phytoremediation system was designed and constructed to investigate the pollutant-removal potential of indigenous species occurring in Renosterveld vegetation (amongst other areas), compared with commonly used invasive alien plants (IAP) in floating wetland designs. Five pollutant parameters – ammonia, nitrate, orthophosphate and two glyphosate concentrations – reflect environmental stresses on 14 wetland species naturally occurring within Renosterveld vegetation. Effluent analyses indicated significant removal efficiencies for the indigenous vegetation across both fertiliser and herbicide pollutants, with the two most effective species identified as Phragmites australis and Cyperus textilis, with 95.87% and 96.42% removal, respectively. All wetland species displayed greater pollutant removal than the unvegetated soil control and when compared to an IAP and palmiet assemblage, indicated similar pollutant-removal efficiencies, justifying their use as an acceptable alternative.Keywords: phytoremediation, water quality, bioremediatio

Erratum

Original article: Jacklin DM, Brink IC and De Waal J (2019) Laboratory method design for investigating the phytoremediation of polluted water. Water SA 45 (4) 608–615. https://doi.org/10.17159/wsa/2019.v45.i4.7541 How to cite: Erratum: Laboratory method design for investigating the phytoremediation of polluted water. [Water SA 45 (4) 608–615]. Water SA 46 (2) 357–365. https://doi.org/10.17159/wsa.2020. v46i2.825

Proceedings of the 2019 Global Business Anthropology Summit

The second Global Business Anthropology Summit was held May 28-29, 2019 at Fordham University in New York City. The 2019 Summit brought together 160 industry practitioners and academic scholars to build upon the work of the 2018 Summit. The 2019 Summit was explicitly and emphatically forward thinking and action oriented to advance anthropological ideas in business. Its broad aims were to (1) advance thinking on the value of anthropological perspectives in business; (2) generate ways to spread appreciation of our work to academics, students, industry leaders, and the general public; and (3) build community among scholars and practitioners. The Summit's plenary panels and workshops demonstrated how anthropologists penetrate nearly every domain of business and are most adept at handling issues that are humanistic and complex. Throughout the two days, the Summit acknowledged the need to continue to grow the demand for anthropologists in business

The political marketplace: a framework and toolkit for analyzing transactional politics in conflict-affected countries

This memo summarizes the research of the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) on the logic of the political marketplace and how it relates to war, peace, democracy and ‘what works’ to reduce violence in conflict-affected fragile states. It shows the utility of interpreting political systems and the actions of members of political elites in accordance with the standing assumption that they pursue the goal of political viability (survival and enhancement) in accordance with a legible logic of monetized transactional politics. The resulting framework is useful for civic and humanitarian actors in turbulent countries and for external policymakers seeking to promote stability, peace, democracy and development, insofar as it provides a clear-eyed evaluation of the challenges and dangers facing reformers

Naar een analytische stratificatiesociologie. Over klasse, status en ongelijkheid

Een van de hoofdvragen van de sociologie richt zich op de oorzaken en gevolgen van maatschappelijke ongelijkheden. Wij betogen dat de sociologie vanwege twee samenhangende problemen tekortschiet in de beantwoording van die vraag. Ten eerste wordt het door Weber uitgewerkte verschil tussen stratificatie in het economische domein (‘klasse’) en stratificatie in het culturele domein (‘status’) veronachtzaamd. Ten tweede richt stratificatieonderzoek zich voornamelijk op het bieden van statistische in plaats van theoretische verklaringen. Daardoor maakt onderzoek niet goed duidelijk of en hoe klassenverschillen en statusverschillen leiden tot 1) ongelijkheid in het economische domein, 2) intergenerationele reproductie van stratificatie, en 3) verschillende denk- voel- en handelingsrepertoires. Om deze problemen op te lossen werken we een alternatieve analytisch-sociologische onderzoeksaanpak uit. We illustreren de waarde van deze aanpak door uitkomsten van bestaande stratificatiestudies kritisch te bespreken. Het artikel sluit af met de implicaties van de hier gepropageerde analytische stratificatiesociologie voor vervolgonderzoek