Swart Teologie en Suid-Afrika se kairos

Black Theology and South Africa's kairós South Africa's Black Theology must be seen as a local contextual theology, but with roots in al least the American Black Theology, Latin American Liberation Theology as well as African Theology. After dealing with these roots, and the different trends in Black Theology, this theology is related to the Kairos Document of September 1985. The conclusion is that this Document can be regarded as the latest and clearest expression of Black Theology. As such it is a formidable challenge to the church and conventional theology

Plasma Renin Activity in Children with Protein Energy Malnutrition (Kwashiorkor)

Plasma renin activity was measured by bio-assay in 100 children with kwashiorkor and in 20 healthy children, and also by radio-immunoassay in another 26 children with kwashiorkor and in another 20 healthy children. Both methods showed that (compared with healthy children) renin activity was significantly increased in children with kwashiorkor; and also that the activity was significantly higher in the patients who subsequently died in hospital, than in those who survived. Increased renin activity probably contributes to the retention of water characteristic of protein energy malnutrition.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 499 (1974

Decline of Birds in a Human Modified Coastal Dune Forest Landscape in South Africa

Previous studies demonstrate that old-growth forest remnants and vegetation regenerating after anthropogenic disturbance provide habitat for birds in a human modified coastal dune forest landscape in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. However, occurrence does not ensure persistence. Based on a 13-year monitoring database we calculated population trends for 37 bird species and general trends in overall bird density in different vegetation types. We evaluated species' characteristics as covariates of population trend and assessed changes in rainfall and proportional area and survey coverage per vegetation type. 76% of species assessed have declined, 57% significantly so at an average rate of 13.9% per year. Overall, bird density has fallen at 12.2% per year across old-growth forest and woody regenerating vegetation types. Changes in proportional area and coverage per vegetation type may partly explain trends for a few species but are unlikely to account for most. Below average rainfall may have contributed to bird declines. However, other possibilities warrant further investigation. Species with larger range extents tended to decline more sharply than did others, and these species may be responding to environmental changes on a broader geographical scale. Our results cast doubt on the future persistence of birds in this human modified landscape. More research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms driving population decline in the study area and to investigate whether the declines identified here are more widespread across the region and perhaps the continent

Sinkretisme as missiologiese uitdaging

Religious syncretism is usually seen as the intermingling of two religious systems to the extent that the uniqueness of a specific religion is compromised. It is thus understood as missiologically negative. This article attemps to view this from another � and more positive � angle. Here we show how the process of inculturation, the �incarnation� of the gospel within a culture is not much different from the process we term �positive syncretism�. It is also possible that the process could veer off in a negative direction. This process therefore remains a formidable challenge to mission in the sense that while there are always new cultural worlds to be penetrated by the gospel, the process cannot be controlled by any �outsiders�. This theory is applied and tested by looking at the phenomenon of African Independent Churches, and a simple two-dimensional model is developed as illustration of a typology

Africa Insight

Africa Insight is published quarterly by the Africa Institute of South Africa, an independent study centre concerned with African affairs.This journal focuses on contemporary issues of Afric

Biotechnological Strategies for Controlling Wine Oxidation

Apart from the controversial positive effects of moderate wine consumption on human health, wine antioxidant capacity plays a key role in winemaking technology. From juice extraction to bottle storage, oxygen management is one of the most critical points for making quality wines. In the past, the protection of juice and wine from oxidations was based on the sole use of sulfur dioxide; more recently, the toxicity and the allergenic potential of this additive, together with the increased knowledge on wine oxidation mechanisms, have given rise to new biotechnological approaches and producing trends, leading to a significant reduction of sulfites in winemaking. The aim of this paper is to review the oxidation mechanisms of grape juice and wine and to discuss the opportunities to reduce as much as possible sulfur dioxide addition by a proper management of alcoholic and malolactic fermentation and by the supplementation of some important yeast nutritional factors (e.g., thiamine). The use of natural antioxidants complementing the activity of sulfites (i.e., ascorbic acid, glutathione, yeast lees, and yeast derivatives) is also discusse

Is microclimate-driven turnover of dung beetle assemblage structure in regenerating coastal vegetation a precursor to re-establishment of a forest fauna?

We questioned the capability of post-mining rehabilitation and successional changes in coastal vegetation to achieve restoration of dune forest, dung beetle assemblages in the Maputaland Centre of Endemism, South Africa. A repeat 2010 study of structural turnover between dung beetle assemblages across a 33 year successional sere of rehabilitating vegetation and old-growth forest (>73 years) produced comparable results to an earlier study across the 23 year chronosequence of 2000. Despite overlap, three structural patterns along the 33 year chronosequence were associated with specific stages of vegetation succession and their characteristic microclimates as in 2000. Although species biased to unshaded habitat dominated the earliest succession, there was rapid re-establishment of dominance by shade-associated forest species. In concert with progression from unshaded, post-mining vegetation to strongly shaded, early successional, Acacia shrub-woodland, there was an initial increase in similarity of the dung beetle fauna (species-poor, low abundance) to that in strongly-shaded forest (also species-poor, low abundance). However, in concert with decreasing shade cover in late successional woodland, the dung beetle fauna became species-rich with high abundance so that the early successional trajectory of increasing similarity to forest fauna either levelled off to a plateau (species in 2000; abundance in 2010) or declined (species in 2010, abundance in 2000). It remains to be seen if gaps forming in the oldest Acacia woodland permit forest tree saplings of the exposed understorey to recreate a forest canopy that would be tracked by dung beetles to re-establish a typically species-poor, deep shade, forest assemblage with low abundance.The study was funded through grants to RJvA from Richards Bay Minerals, the Department of Trade and Industry (THRIP), and the National Research Foundation (NRF).http://www.springerlink.com/content/100177/hb2013ab201