The problem of belief in literature.

The writing of imaginative literature is a creative activity and a function of what Coleridge calls the “Esemplastiv Imagination” ; a unifying process, creating a synthesis out of the welter of sense perceptions,associations, ideas, attitudes, volitions, and imaginative experiences of the human mind. As Shakespeare says, the poet gives to “airy nothing”,in the sense of vague and confused feelings and thoughts, “a local habitation and a name”

Academic Library Consortia in South Africa : where we come from and where we are heading

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the establishment of the five academic library consortia in South Africa, their status quo, and a summary of their successes and plans for the future. Although useful information can be found from the consortia Web sites, much of it is no longer current. Similarly, there is limited published literature on the academic library consortia in South Africa. Apart from the sources referenced, the authors therefore relied heavily on an unpublished conference paper by Thomas[reference 1], which included findings gathered during a short survey among the five academic library consortia. In addition, Rowley and Slack[reference 2] and Sekabembe[reference 3] provide useful overviews of the library consortia in South Africa at the time of publication. Further information is available in published and unpublished sources

Stabilization of a Tailings Dam by De-Watering

The failure of the outer slope of one of the paddocks of a tailings dam, resulted in a significant decrease in the area available for tailings deposition. Overloading of the remaining five paddocks resulted. To maintain the stability of the existing dam whilst construction of new disposal facilities was in progress, three techniques were investigated; horizontal, push-in drains at the dam toe, a rock buttress around the operational paddocks, and vertical de-watering wells installed on the first terrace, or ‘step-back’ of the dam. De-watering wells proved most effective, and 165 wells were installed. A monitoring programme included regular determination of the water level in each well, and the installation of piezometers at selected locations around the dam. These observations were used to optimise the use of the five remaining paddocks, thus ensuring stability of the dam during the transfer of deposition operations to two new tailings dams

Occurrence and Detection of Killer Yeasts on Chenin Blanc Grapes and Grape Skins

Two hundred and thirty killer yeast strains were selectively isolated from Chenin blanc grapes and grape skins collected from six wineries. The killer yeasts were divided into nine groups based on their colony morphology and colour on modified Wallerstein laboratory nutrient agar. All strains fermented Chenin blanc grape must (pH 3,5; 40 mg/ I free SO, and 5% (v/v) ethanol) at l4°C. Existing techniques in which methylene blue are used were evaluated to detect killer yeasts, to determine interactions between different killer phenotypes, and to determine the sensitivity of commercial strains to the killer toxins

The efficacy of a generic doxycycline tablet in the treatment of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a generic doxycycline tablet (DoxyVet®) against Ehrlichia canis infection in dogs. Canine monocytic ehrlichiosis is caused by the bacterium E. canis and transmitted by the brown kennel tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus). Six disease-free and tick-free dogs were infested with E. canisinfected ticks. Once diagnosed (with polymerase chain reaction [PCR] analysis and platelet counts) as positive for infection, doxycycline tablets were administered orally once a day for 20 consecutive days, at a target dose level of 10 mg/kg. The actual dose administered was calculated as ranging between 10 mg/kg and 11.7 mg/kg. The PCR analysis, 28 days after the first administration of the tablets, failed to detect E. canis in any of the dogs. On Day 56 of the study, four of the dogs were diagnosed with E. canis for the second time and a fifth dog was diagnosed on Day 70. The platelet counts of the sixth dog remained within normal levels and it was discharged from the study on Day 84. Doxycycline tablets were then administered to the remaining five infected dogs for 28 consecutive days. Four of these dogs had no positive PCR results during the following 3 months. The fifth dog was diagnosed with E. canis for the third time 58 days after the last tablets of the second treatment had been administered, after which it was rescue treated (doxycycline for a further 28 days). The results indicate that doxycycline administered in tablet form (DoxyVet®) at 10 mg/kg – 11.7 mg/kg body mass once daily for 28 consecutive days clears most dogs of infection. The importance of a concomitant tick-control programme is therefore stressed

Statistical evaluation of seismic event location accuracy by the South African National Seismograph Network over four decades

We analyzed the changes/improvements of seismic event detection and location accuracy of the South African National Seismograph Network over the last four decades. The effect of three regional velocity models on epicentral solutions was tested during the initial study. It is shown that the hypocentral depth considered during this study, viz. at 2 km for mining related events, and 5 km to 10 km for tectonic earthquakes, have a negligible effect on the error in epicentre location. Further, three detection distances were evaluated during this study, viz. 300, 500 and 1000 km. The location errors decreased significantly by increasing the detecting distance. This study highlights the importance of including 5-phase arrival times to better constrain seismic event locations. This observation is of particular value for the 1970 to 1997 period, when only P-phases were considered during the location procedure. Lastly, it is shown how the errors in epicentre location decrease with an increase in the number and geographical distribution of seismic stations.The South African National Seismograph Network operated by the Geophysics Competency of the Council for Geoscience.http://sajg.geoscienceworld.orgam2017Geolog

Factors hindering public financial management and accountability in South Africa

Service delivery, poverty reduction and economic development and sustainability depend on the availability of money and the ability to use it effectively, which requires good financial management. Financial management fulfils an important role in the public sector, because without public funds to cover operational and capital costs, and without appropriate personnel, no public institution can render effective services. This paper analyses factors that affect the effectiveness of public financial management in South Africa. Many factors hinder public financial management and accountability, including the high turnover rate of accounting officers and of parliamentary committees such as the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), and a lack of political will. Although South Africa has suitable oversight bodies, policies, procedures and Acts, the poor state of financial management in South African government departments is demonstrated by the low number of clean qualified audits which show that the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999, the legislative oversight bodies, and the wider legal framework governing public finances have been flouted. If financial management in the public service is not addressed holistically, it may hamper, rather than assist, government departments in their service delivery programmes.am201

The influence of wave action on coastal erosion along Monwabisi Beach, Cape Town

The coastline to the east of the Monwabisi Beach tidal pool has been subject to substantial visible coastal erosion. Monwabisi is located near the City of Cape Town and is situated along the northern coastline of False Bay. The erosion that has occurred has raised concern as it is damaging local infrastructure. The coastline retreat to the east of Monwabisi was investigated through analysis of aerial photographs and wave data to establish whether there is a relationship between dynamic wave action that this bay is subjected to, and the observed erosion within the study area. The maximum lateral coastal erosion at the Monwabisi study area from 2003 until 2014 was approximately 30m in a landward direction. Based on the correlation of the results between the rate of coastline retreat and the wave data, the study has concluded that the extreme rates of coastline retreat experienced within the study area at Monwabisi is most likely a direct result of a combination of influences including the number and height of big wave events, waves coming from a more southerly direction, the underlying geological substrate of the study area, and the impact that the local infrastructure has had on the geological substrate. Three time periods of maximum monthly erosion rates occurred from June 2008 to November 2009, March 2010 to March 2011 and April 2011 to June 2012

MADIBA: A web server toolkit for biological interpretation of Plasmodium and plant gene clusters

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray technology makes it possible to identify changes in gene expression of an organism, under various conditions. Data mining is thus essential for deducing significant biological information such as the identification of new biological mechanisms or putative drug targets. While many algorithms and software have been developed for analysing gene expression, the extraction of relevant information from experimental data is still a substantial challenge, requiring significant time and skill.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>MADIBA (MicroArray Data Interface for Biological Annotation) facilitates the assignment of biological meaning to gene expression clusters by automating the post-processing stage. A relational database has been designed to store the data from gene to pathway for <it>Plasmodium</it>, rice and <it>Arabidopsis</it>. Tools within the web interface allow rapid analyses for the identification of the Gene Ontology terms relevant to each cluster; visualising the metabolic pathways where the genes are implicated, their genomic localisations, putative common transcriptional regulatory elements in the upstream sequences, and an analysis specific to the organism being studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MADIBA is an integrated, online tool that will assist researchers in interpreting their results and understand the meaning of the co-expression of a cluster of genes. Functionality of MADIBA was validated by analysing a number of gene clusters from several published experiments – expression profiling of the <it>Plasmodium </it>life cycle, and salt stress treatments of <it>Arabidopsis </it>and rice. In most of the cases, the same conclusions found by the authors were quickly and easily obtained after analysing the gene clusters with MADIBA. </p

Endovascular treatment of intractable epistaxis - results of a 4-year local audit

Objective. Transcatheter embolisation is an accepted and effective treatment for intractable epistaxis. We analysed our success and complication rates and compared these with results from other published series.Design. Retrospective review.Setting. Unitas Interventional Unit, Centurion.Methods. Case record review (57 procedures) and telephonic interviews (36 traceable respondents).Outcome measures. A numerical audit of the success and complication rates for embolisation procedures performed during the 4-year period between July 1999 and June 2003.Results. A total of 57 endovascular embolisation procedures were performed for intractable epistaxis in 51 patients during this period. Eight patients (15.7%) developed a re-bleed between 1 and 33 days after embolisation of whom 5 were re- embolised, giving a primary short-term success rate of 86.3% and secondary assisted success rate of 94.1%. Thirty-five of 36 respondents {97.2%) reported no further epistaxis during the long-term follow-up period of 1-47months. The mortality rate was 0%, the major morbidity rate was 2% (l stroke) and the minor morbidity rate was 25%.Conclusion. Our Success and complication rates are acceptable and compare favourably with those reported in other large series