The making of territorial apartheid: the case of East London's locations

Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid, 6-10 February, 1990

HIV and the histopathologist

The practicing histopathologist is often a forgotten link in the management of HIV patients. This article aims to highlight the unique challenges faced by anatomical pathologists as well as focusing on the valuable contribution they can make to ensure prompt and accurate diagnoses that will ultimately benefit the patient

Genetic diversity and population structure of locally adapted South African chicken lines: Implications for conservation.

In this study microsatellite markers were applied to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of the six local chicken lines kept in the “Fowls for Africa” program, for better clarification of parameters for breed differentiation and genetic conservation of this valuable resource. The lines included the Black Australorp, Potchefstroom Koekoek, New Hampshire, Ovambo, Lebova- Venda and a Naked Neck line. Unbiased estimates for heterozygosity ranged from 50% in the Potchefstroom Koekoek to as high as 65% in the Naked Neck chickens. FIS values varied from as low as 0.16 for the Black Australorp line to as high as 0.35 for the Ovambo chickens. The FST values indicated moderate to high genetic differentiation between the Naked Neck and New Hampshire (0.11); Ovambo and Naked Neck lines (0.12), and Naked Neck and Lebowa- Venda (0.14). A total of 13% of the total genetic variation observed was between the chicken lines and 87% within the lines, supporting moderate genetic differentiation. Population structure was assessed using STRUCTURE where the Black Australorp was genetically best defined. Although six clusters for the different populations could be distinguished, the other lines were not as clearly defined, with individual birds tending to share more than one cluster. Results support a broad classification of these lines and further investigation of unique alleles is recommended for conservation of the lines within the program

Rural self-reliance strategies in South Africa : community initiatives and external support in the former black homelands

This paper examines the relevance of the concept of self-reliance in the context of rural community economic development in South Africa. Whilst changing global and local circumstances oblige impoverished communities to become more pro-active in the enhancement of the quality of their lives, they nevertheless cannot ignore basic market forces and the need for an appropriate level of external assistance. Four community-based agricultural ventures in South Africa's former Homelands are examined. A comparison between the four schemes permits an assessment to be made of what such community ventures require if they are to succeed and have a meaningful impact on job creation and poverty alleviation. The role of external support agencies and access to markets in each case features prominently in the assessment

Farming against the odds : an examination of the challenges facing farming and rural development in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa

Recent political transformation in South Africa has laid the basis for significant socioeconomic change. One area in which the greatest socioeconomic disparities are discernable is the agricultural sector and rural development in general. Through the medium of a case study of the Eastern Cape province, the obstacles and opportunities facing the two predominant farming groups —emerging black small-scale farmers and white commercial farmers — are examined. The paper concludes with an examination of the economic potential of the former ‘white' areas to sustain the resettlement of people previously excluded from that land market on racial grounds

Ranking of Universities in the United Arab Emirates: Exploring a web-based technique

This study investigated university rankings in the UAE within the context of the challenges facing higher education globally in the 21st century, by using the Webometric ranking methodology. Data was collected and analysed on the top 20 UAE universities. It was apparent that the UAE universities do not perform as well as expected in the Webometrics ranking, when compared with peer countries. The ratings are slightly below that which is expected, especially when one considers measures such as research publications. Strategies to improve performance using the Webometrics indicators could have a positive impact on the UAE universities. Improvements in communicating research and their web presence is likely to move the UAE universities up the Webometrics rankings, and their academic reputation in the country

Marginalisation and demographic change in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa

Semi-arid areas are often considered to be environmentally and economically marginal, a situation which has been exacerbated by economic change, shifts in agricultural production and land use, and changing state policy. These themes are explored with reference to a semi-arid landscape, namely the Karoo, which covers some 40% of the geographic space of South Africa and is used primarily for extensive livestock farming. Despite long-term decline in agricultural output, the traditional mainstay of the region, and weakening small town economies, the Karoo's population and the economies of its largest service centres are growing. There are, real socio-economic needs and development backlogs, and the situation has been exacerbated by recent political marginalisation. In this study, the small towns of the region are focal points of investigation and provide a lens to investigate the changing demographic and economic dynamics of the Karoo. Most of the region's population lives in these centres which are service, collection, and distribution points for what traditionally has been an agriculture-based regional economy. This paper explores the concept of marginalisation with specific reference to historical, economic, and demographic change

Foreground segmentation in atmospheric turbulence degraded video sequences to aid in background stabilization

Abstract: Video sequences captured over a long range through the turbulent atmosphere contain some degree of atmospheric turbulence degradation (ATD). Stabilization of the geometric distortions present in video sequences containing ATD and containing objects undergoing real motion is a challenging task. This is due to the difficulty of discriminating what visible motion is real motion and what is caused by ATD warping. Due to this, most stabilization techniques applied to ATD sequences distort real motion in the sequence. In this study we propose a new method to classify foreground regions in ATD video sequences. This classification is used to stabilize the background of the scene while preserving objects undergoing real motion by compositing them back into the sequence. A hand annotated dataset of three ATD sequences is produced with which the performance of this approach can be quantitatively measured and compared against the current state-of-the-art

Malls in Zambia: Racialised retail expansion and South African foreign investors in Zambia

No Abstrac

Genetic characterization of native southern African chicken populations: evaluation and selection of polymorphic microsatellite markers

This study presents the first results on the evaluation and selection of polymorphic microsatellite markers for the genetic characterization of native chicken populations in southern Africa. Blood samples for DNA extraction were obtained from five chicken lines from South Africa (Koekoek, New Hampshire, Naked-Neck, Lebowa-Venda and Ovambo), and from one population each from Mozambique and Botswana. Twenty-three markers were found to be polymorphic in most of the lines studied. The mean number of alleles observed for all markers was 6.1, and varied from 2.3 (Koekoek) to 4.3 (Mozambique population). The lowest heterozygosity was found in the Koekoek line (31.4%), and the highest in the populations from Mozambique (60.7%) and Botswana (61.2%). It was concluded that this particular set of microsatellite markers can be of use a measure of genetic variability in native chicken lines in southern Africa, and should be evaluated as diagnostic tools for breed identification. (South African Journal of Animal Science, 2000, 30(1): 1-6