Potential of Interplanetary Torques and Solar Modulation for Triggering Terrestrial Atmospheric and Lithospheric Events

The Sun is forced into an orbit around the barycenter of the solar system because of the changing mass distribution of the planets. Solar-planetary-lunar dynamic relationships may form a new basis for understanding and predicting cyclic solar forcing functions on the Earth's climate.Comment: Invited Paper at the Fourth UN/ESA Workshop on Basic Space Science, Cairo, Egypt, July 1994. 7 pages LaTeX. Accepted for publication in the journal Earth, Moon, and Planet

Low temperature pyrolysis of wood waste materials

The pyrolysis of jack pine bark, jack pine sawdust, and cellulose powder has been studied by thermogravimetric (TG), and isothermal weight-loss methods in both inert and oxidizing atmospheres. The effects of particle size, solvent extraction, and a number of additives on the low temperature pyrolysis of jack pine bark have also been examined. Samples were analysed by low-temperature gas adsorption and the bark characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Residues were analysed for CHN contents and structural changes which occurred on heating were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The TG characteristics of bark were affected only slightly by particle size, solvent extraction, and additives. Isothermal decomposition data for bark and sawdust were similar and closely resembled established kinetic expressions associated with inorganic decomposition reactions controlled by diffusion processes. The data for cellulose were described by at least tv70 kinetic stages with the second or principal region resembling a standard kinetic expression for a phaseboundary controlled reaction. The pyrolysis data were found to fit a reaction rate compensation curve, often associated with oxidation processes but more generally with heterogeneous catalytic reactions. The compensation curve also relates the kinetic parameters found by other workers for a large variety of wood-derived materials

Teachers' knowledge and practices of teaching and integrating language structures and conventions in the intermediate phase: isiZulu home language CAPS curriculum.

M. Ed. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2014.This dissertation is concerned with the teaching of Language Structures and Conventions (LS & C). It was undertaken in the current context of curriculum change and innovation from the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). The purpose of the study was to investigate how Intermediate Phase (IP), isiZulu Home Language educators integrate LS & C with other language skills during the implementation of CAPS. Three research questions that guided the study were concerned with how teachers teach LS & C, how teachers understand LS & C and what their knowledge base of the theory and practice of teaching LS & C is, in the context of teaching the main language skills. Challenges of teaching LS & C were also considered. In the languages curriculum, CAPS brought about various changes and the shift from six learning outcomes to four language skills being the prominent ones. According to CAPS Language Use, one of the six learning outcomes in NCS was to be integrated in the teaching of four main language skills. Three isiZulu Home Language educators from Intermediate Phase (IP) were purposively sampled from one cluster in the UMgungundlovu district of KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. In a qualitative study, participants were interviewed and observed while teaching LS & C in isiZulu lessons. Lesson observations were conducted to determine the extent to which they integrated LS & C into their teaching. Grossman’s framework of teacher knowledge and teacher knowledge for language teachers were used in the analysis of data collected from interviews and lesson transcripts, by looking at similarities, differences and patterns emerging from semi-structured interviews and lessons which were observed. Findings of the study revealed that the Intermediate Phase (IP) educators had a problem of integrating LS & C with other language skills. The study also revealed that isiZulu Home Language teachers had superficial content and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) which impacted negatively on the implementation of the CAPS curriculum. Evidence from the research further showed that there was a disjuncture between what teachers said during the interviews and what was observed during the actual teaching practice. Teachers indicated during the interview process that they integrated the aspects of LS & C into other language skills but it was observed that most teachers taught LS & C in isolation. This means that the IP teachers had a problem of translating policy into practice. The teachers’ problem was exacerbated by the lack of clarity of the teaching plans on how to teach LS & C. The study recommends that the isiZulu Home Languages teachers should be capacitated and supported during the CAPS curriculum implementation period

Influence of institutional context on high-growth entrepreneurship

This research aimed to explore the influence of the institutional context on the growth-potential of new businesses in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to highlight the major responsibility of bureaucracy to enable high-growth entrepreneurship in emerging economies by building a favourable economic, social and legal environment, known as the institutional context.An adapted research model was defined through an extensive literature review of prior studies in the fields of both institutional theory and entrepreneurship theory. An online survey was administered to many South African entrepreneurs via a number of databases across the country. The responses were then collected and analysed by means of a multiple regression analysis to test the six hypotheses of the research model.The results revealed that all the identified institutional factors were found to have significant influences on high-growth entrepreneurship in the intended directions, while access to technology was found to have the largest influence, and the regulatory framework also contributed substantially. This implies that the bureaucracy of the country has to consider all the identified factors when attempting to design a supportive institutional environment to stimulate high-growth entrepreneurship. However, the greatest results will be achieved by focusing specifically on the access to an extensive technological infrastructure and an effective regulatory framework.Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)unrestricte

Post-Newtonian limitations on measurement of the PPN parameters caused by motion of gravitating bodies

We derive explicit Lorentz-invariant solution of the Einstein and null geodesic equations for data processing of the time delay and ranging experiments in gravitational field of moving gravitating bodies of the solar system - the Sun and major planets. We discuss general-relativistic interpretation of these experiments and the limitations imposed by motion of the massive bodies on measurement of the parameters gamma_{PPN}, beta_{PPN} and delta_{PPN} of the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; accepted for publication to MNRA

The barycentric motion of exoplanet host stars: tests of solar spin-orbit coupling

Empirical evidence suggests a tantalising but unproven link between various indicators of solar activity and the barycentric motion of the Sun. The latter is exemplified by transitions between regular and more disordered motion modulated by the motions of the giant planets, and rare periods of retrograde motion with negative orbital angular momentum. An examination of the barycentric motion of exoplanet host stars, and their stellar activity cycles, has the potential of proving or disproving the Sun's motion as an underlying factor in the complex patterns of short- and long-term solar variability indices, by establishing whether such correlations exist in other planetary systems. A variety of complex patterns of barycentric motions of exoplanet host stars is demonstrated, depending on the number, masses and orbits of the planets. Each of the behavioural types proposed to correlate with solar activity are also evident in exoplanet host stars: repetitive patterns influenced by massive multiple planets, epochs of rapid change in orbital angular momentum, and intervals of negative orbital angular momentum. The study provides the basis for independent investigations of the widely-studied but unproven suggestion that the Sun's motion is somehow linked to various indicators of solar activity. We show that, because of the nature of their barycentric motions, the host stars HD168443 and HD74156 offer particularly powerful tests of this hypothesis.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Sun's retrograde motion and violation of even-odd cycle rule in sunspot activity

The sum of sunspots number over an odd numbered 11 yr sunspot cycle exceeds that of its preceding even numbered cycle, and it is well known as Gnevyshev and Ohl rule (or G--O rule) after the names of the authors who discovered it in 1948. The G--O rule can be used to predict the sum of sunspot numbers of a forthcoming odd cycle from that of its preceding even cycle. But this is not always possible because occasionally the G--O rule is violated. So far no plausible reason is known either for the G--O rule or the violation of this rule. Here we showed the epochs of the violation of the G--O rule are close to the epochs of the Sun's retrograde orbital motion about the centre of mass of the solar system (i.e., the epochs at which the orbital angular momentum of the Sun is weakly negative). Using this result easy to predict the epochs of violation of the G--O rule well in advance. We also showed that the solar equatorial rotation rate determined from sunspot group data during the period 1879--2004 is correlated/anti-correlated to the Sun's orbital torque during before/after 1945. We have found the existence of a statistically significant $\sim$ 17 yr periodicity in the solar equatorial rotation rate. The implications of these findings for understanding the mechanism behind the solar cycle and the solar-terrestrial relationship are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRA