Grappling with the Past: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa

South Africa s past has to be grappled with, courageously and penetratingly. Especially its recent decades of human rights violations inflicted by the injustice of apartheid, have to be confronted frankly and constructively. In the light of what other countries have done, South Africa opted for a Commission that would do its utmost to uncover the truth and to contribute towards reconciliation. Using as a frame of reference the demanding objectives that had been set for this Commission, this article presents a brief discussion of the functioning of the Commission and an initial assessment of its achievements. The overwhelming and almost impossible task, further complicated by practical and psychological limitations, is taken into consideration. What has nevertheless been accomplished, is duly recognised and appraised. Preliminary conclusions are given for the ongoing responsibilities of respect, reparation and reconciliation. These do not only apply to South Africa s road ahead, but also to all situations where truth has to be revealed and people have to be reconciled

Pope's portraiture : a critical examination of portraiture in the poetry of Alexander Pope

Bibliography: pages 202-210.This work examines and critically evaluates what the author considers to be the chief concerns of Pope's verse portraits, and particularly attempts to trace the manifestations of these concerns in the formal, rather than argumentative or polemic, qualities of Pope's writing. The works selected have accordingly been primarily those in which the density of poetic description of character was sufficient to indicate implicit qualities of psychological interest, sometimes at remarkable variance with more express argument of contemporary theories. Starting from an initial agreement with Dr Johnson concerning Pope's shortcomings as a philosopher, the author chooses works for detailed study on the basis of the various ways they present human types and characters: through a semi-dramatic narrative presentation, through brief life-histories, through descriptive character-sketches, or through implication of character by environment. The author bases much of his work on the idea of a dual interest in Pope's verse, which is partly satiric and aimed at moral.or social correction, partly humorous and aimed at examination or elucidation of human nature. The Dunciad and An Essay on Man are examples of the two interests as opposite extremes; but in most of Pope's work, the author maintains, the functions are complementary

The potential role of wound-activated volatile release in the chemical defence of the brown alga Dictyota dichotoma: Blend recognition by marine herbivores

Abstract.: The chemical defence potential against herbivores of certain Dictyotalean brown algae increases after tissue disruption. This wound activated defence has been explored in bioassays, but the metabolic pathways behind it are unknown. Here we describe a metabolic profiling approach to identify the activated defence metabolites. Before and after tissue damage of Dictyota dichotoma modified diterpenes, non-volatile medium polar metabolites as well as volatile compounds were profiled. While comparison of extracted intact and mechanically wounded algae revealed no significant differences in structure and distribution of semi-volatile and reversed phase LC/MS detectable metabolites, a strong release of gaseous volatiles was observed. Solid phase micro extraction (SPME) and GC/MS were used for identification and quantification of these biogenic gases. This showed that D. dichotoma released elevated amounts of trimethylamine (TMA) and dimethylsulphide (DMS) after mechanical tissue damage. To study the ecological significance of compounds released post injury and of the biosynthetically connected non-volatile acrylate, choice assays were performed with the amphipod Amphithoe longimana. Behavioural assays on artificial diets did not reveal any repellent role for the single isolated metabolites. In strong contrast, a mixture of TMA, DMS and acrylate significantly reduced the association of the herbivores with the treated food pellets.This shows that mixtures of these biogenic gases and acrylate are recognized by the herbivores and influence food selectio

Coral reefs in crisis: reversing the biotic death spiral

Coral reefs are disappearing due to global warming, overfishing, ocean acidification, pollution, and interactions of these and other stresses. Ecologically informed management of fishes that facilitate corals by suppressing seaweeds may be our best bet for bringing reefs back from the brink of extinction

Growth and survival of mature Sargassum polycystum fronds in crowded and isolated habitats

Dataset: Sargassum mature growth conspecific - figure 4Raw data on the growth of mature Sargassum polycystum fronds transplanted into or outside Sargassum beds, crowded and isolated conditions respectively, in a non-protected area in Fiji. Growth was obtained using the initial height measurement from each rammet and subtracting it from its final height, meaning the rammets that died were recorded as negative change. Details in Dell et al. 2016 Plos One. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/644062NSF Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-092911

Survival and growth of recruit-sized ramets growing inside or outside Sargassum beds (crowded and isolated conditions, respectively) in the MPA and non-MPA of two villages in Fiji

Dataset: Sargassum recruit-sized growth and survival with conspecifics - figures 5 and 6Survival and growth of recruit-sized ramets of Sargassum polycystum growing inside or outside Sargassum beds (crowded and isolated conditions, respectively) in protected and non-protected areas (MPA and non-MPA, respectively) in two villages in Fiji. Growth was obtained using the initial height measurement from each rammetand subtracting it from its final height, meaning the rammets that died were recorded as negative change. An average final height was calculated from two sub-samples (the two MPA and two non-MPA rammets) on each tile after 3 months of experiment. Survival was the average number of days survived by the two MPA ramets and by the two non-MPA rammets in each tile Details in Dell et al. 2016 Plos One. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/644080NSF Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-092911

Growth of mature caged Sargassum polycystum fronds from MPAs and non-MPAs when reciprocally transplanted

Dataset: Sargassum mature growth - figure 2Raw data on the growth of mature Sargassum polycystum fronds originated from marine protected and non-protected areas (MPAs and non-MPAs, respectively) in Fiji, reciprocally transplanted between these areas and protected by cages. Growth was measured as the difference between the final (30 days) and initial frond length, measured from a standard point established using a thread when the experiment was set. Details in Dell et al. 2016 Plos One. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the supplemental document 'Field_names.pdf', and a full dataset description is included in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: http://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/643915NSF Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) OCE-092911