The hydrodynamics of the Bot River Estuary revisited

For the past 20 years management of the Bot/Kleinmond estuarine system in the south-western Cape has been based on the premise that, barring intervention, the estuary was naturally evolving into a freshwater coastal lake. This paper presents evidence, based on a 20-year series of water-level data, updated runoff estimates from the catchment and dimensional data, that, in the absence of anthropogenic influences, the system is not progressing naturally, but artificially, towards becoming a freshwater system. It is concluded that the increasingly closed state of the Bot Estuary in recent years is most likely due to reduction in runoff from its tributaries and premature artificial breaching of the Kleinmond arm of the system. These findings, coupled with the high conservation importance of the Bot River Estuary, suggest that the current management plan needs urgent revaluation and that the two estuaries cannot be managed separately. Key words: Bot River Estuary, estuary management, estuary breaching policy, closed estuary, estuarine dimensions, estuarine water levels, estuarine habitat Water SA Vol.31(1) 2005: 73-8

A Conceptual Model of Spirituality in Music Education

This article aims to describe the phenomenon of spirituality in music education by means of a model derived from the academic literature on the topic. Given the centrality of lived experience within this literature, we adopted a hermeneutic phenomenological theoretical framework to describe the phenomenon. The NCT (noticing, collecting, and thinking) model was used for the qualitative document analysis. Atlas.ti 7, computer-aided qualitative data analysis software, was used to support and organize the inductive qualitative data analysis process. After data saturation, we used Van Manen’s lifeworld existentials (corporeality, relationality, spatiality, and temporality) as guides to reflection and to help organize the many quotes found in the literature. The model that results assigns quotes to codes and categories, which in turn appear within one of these four lifeworlds. This article not only offers a working conceptual model of spirituality in music education but may also help to foster an awareness of spiritual experience in pedagogical contexts and thus contribute to what Van Manen calls “pedagogic thoughtfulness and tact.

Bayes factors for grouped data

Published ArticleIn this paper we apply Bayes factors to grouped data. Group testing is where units are pooled together and tested as a group rather than individually. The Bayes factor is the ratio of the posterior probabilities of the null and the alternative hypotheses divided by the ratio of the prior probabilities for the null and the alternative hypotheses. A beta prior will be used, also known as a conjugate prior for the binomial distribution. An application to mosquito data will be considered, where a comparison is made between West Nile virus (WNV) infection prevalences in field collected Culex nigripalpus mosquitoes trapped at different heights

Looking closely at what they say and what it tells us: Experiences in a digital learning space

This study explores lecturer and student experiences of using the Learning Management System (LMS) within a Faculty at a South African University. The results of the study highlight the extent to which lecturers and students engage with the LMS. This article aims to determine the following: 1) the value that lecturers and students place on using the LMS as a platform to facilitate learning and teaching, 2) the typical resources, activities and assessments that lecturers and students place value on and why, and 3) to compare lecturer and student perspectives on the best utilization of the LMS. Quantitative data were collected from the LMS and qualitative data collected from lecturers and undergraduate students through questionnaires and focus groups. A Social Constructivist framework was adopted as a lens for analysis of collected data. The results show resources are valued the most by both lecturers and students but the majority of students only access, on average, just more than half of the postings. In terms of the constructs of the Social Constructivist framework, Learning and Connectedness showed positive responses, while improvement is necessary for Making Meaning and Agency

The impact of photovoltaic generator cost on future balance of systems technology development with reference to pumping systems

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.The successful expansion of the global use of photovoltaic generators (PVG) have resulted in an increased demand for PVG and accompanying reduction in cost. Higher reliability and the historical knowledge of life time behaviour of such generators place photovoltaic generators positively in the commercial arena of today as part of the energy landscape. In sympathy with the status of PVG, the development of balance of system components (BOS) is also exposed to evolutionary characteristics present in its future. Ironically the past high cost of PVG guided technological development of BOS components in directions that may have resulted in lesser reliability, higher cost of such components, reduced serviceability, and diminished integration opportunity with existing infrastructure as well as aided the development of a wide range of diverse technologies to address specific functional needs, thereby complicating product offering. An example of such a situation is found in water pumping systems. This study investigates the available product in the water pumping market, suitable for PVG operation and analyses trends and future direction. Applicable technology and materials development, product characteristics, envisaged market behaviour and expected product development trends are followed to ascertain the market behaviour and to determine the best way forward in new product development and product commercialisation. The results presented include the impact of local market needs versus available global technologies, products and solutions and illustrates the increasing need and demand for local solutions, based on local market infrastructure such as manufacturing, knowledge and service and resource availability. Conclusions include the, as yet, subliminal but possible significant impact that the PVG and accompanying BOS industry developments are starting to exhibit on the installed world of electricity and electrical power characteristics, with accompanying equipment as we know it today.cf201

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: COMMERCIAL READINESS INDEX (CRI) FOR MEDICAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM)

ArticleTechnology Readiness Level (TRL) is widely used as a measure of technology maturity. However, TRL is not necessarily a good indicator of commercial readiness. In the renewable energy sector a Commercial Readiness Index (CRI) is used where only a technology with a high TRL qualifies for commercial readiness. Similarly TRL is used to measure the maturity of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. This research proposes a Commercial Readiness Index (CRI) for Additive Manufacturing. A case-study on maxillofacial Ti6Al4V implants manufactured with AM is referred to

Evaluating the relationship between external markers and internal vertebral kinematics in the cervical spine

Published ArticleThe objective of this study was to examine the relationship between external markers typically used in external motion capturing devices and the true vertebral kinematics in the cervical spine. Twenty one healthy subjects were subjected to low dosage X-rays in five different positions, while radio opaque markers were attached to the skin at each vertebral level. Distance and angle parameters were constructed for vertebral prediction from skin surface markers. The causes of variation in these parameters were identified by investigating the correlations of these parameters with anthropometrical variables. Strong correlations of the parameters were observed in flexion, but in extension, especially full extension, the correlations were poor to insignificant. In neutral, half flexion, and full flexion it is possible to predict the vertebral position from surface markers by using the parameters and anthropometrical variables. In half extension this prediction is less accurate and in full extension alternative methods should be investigated for external motion capturing

Recognition of cultural differences

CITATION: Van der Merwe, W. L. 2001. Erkenning van kulturele verskille. Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, 41(4):268-282.The original publication is available at http://www.scielo.org.za'n Lang en ryk tradisie in die filosofie gaan daarvan uit dat die behoefte aan erkenning 'n universele en wesenlike menslike gegewe is. 1 Dit word nie net in abstraksie beredeneer nie, maar ook onderskryf deur spesifieke interpretasies van die mitologie, die tragedie, antler literere vorme, asook studies in die psigologie, sosiale antropologie en die fenomenologie van godsdiens. In hierdie bydrae gaan daar egter spesifiek gefokus word op die problematiek van erkenning van kulturele verskille omdat dit in hedendaagse samelewings so 'n belangrike rol speel. 2 Suid-Afrika is in die verband geen uitsondering nie, hoewel die tekstuur van kulturele verskeidenheid en veral die wyse waarop dit in die koloniale en apartheidsverlede verpolitiseer is, ons situasie verskillend maak. Die algemene bewussyn in die wereld vandag van die belang van kulturele verskille en die probleme wat die erkenning daarvan oproep, word ook gereflekteer in die hedendaagse filosofie, byvoorbeeld in bepaalde vorme van multikulturalisme, feminisme en postmodemisme, in debatte oor die begronding en begrensing van groepspesifieke ofkulturele regte, en in die herwaardering van die etiese appel wat van die antler, ook die "kulturele antler", uitgaan. 3 Waarop meer spesifiek gefokus gaan word - veral in die tweede en derde dee! van hierdie betoog - is die vraag onder watter voorwaardes erkenning van kulturele verskille gevra en gegee kan word. Die antwoord van 'n bepaalde vorm van kulturele relatiwisme op hierdie vraag is die "gelykheidstese", dit wil se die opvatting dat die gelykwaardigheid van kulture erken moet word. Deur 'n kritiek van die opvatting been, sal betoog word dat die voorwaardes vir die erkenning van kulturele verskille op 'n antler, in feite aporetiese wyse verstaan moet word. Met die oog daarop word daar eers gewys op die verband tussen kultuur en erkenning.The demand for the recognition of cultural differences is central to a number of debates associated with multiculturalism. Following Charles Taylors analysis of the relation between modernity and cultural pluralism, it is argued that the demand of cultural relativism, namely that the equal value of cultures should be recognised, is not justifiable. This however should not serve as an excuse for underestimating the significance of cultural differences or for ethnocentric indifference towards claims for recognition. The prerequisites for claims towards recognition are further explored by distinguishing between two justifiable claims: on the one hand the claim that the right to differ should be recognised and on the other hand the claim that the inherent value of the difference should be recognised. It is argued that the possibilities of granting recognition are in most cases restricted to the first claim. Although the second claim may also be justified, it is in most cases not possible to meet it. The conclusion is that we encounter an aporetic ground for both cultural critique and intercultural tolerance; in fact a better ground for tolerance than cultural relativism which easily leads to indifference.Publisher's versio

Crafting a Foucauldian Archaeology Method: A Critical Analysis of Occupational Therapy Curriculum-as-Discourse, South Africa

South Africa has a colonial and apartheid past of social injustice, epistemological oppression, and exclusion. These mechanisms are historically inscribed in the designs, practices, and content of higher education including in occupational therapy curriculum. If these historical markers are not consciously interrogated, patterns of reproduction are reified along the fault lines that already exist in society. The focus of this article is to demonstrate how an archaeological Foucauldian method was crafted from foundational Foucauldian archaeology analytics and existing approaches of Foucauldian discourse analysis to unearth the rules of the formation of the occupational therapy profession. These rules pertain to the formation of (a) the ideal occupational therapist (b) who had a say about the profession; (c) the ways of preferred reasoning; and (d) underlying theoretical themes and perspectives about the future. Data sources for this archaeology analytics included commemorative documents of universities on the origin of their programmes; historical regulatory documents; and the South African Journal of Occupational Therapy archive from the period 1953–1994. The analysis rendered two subthemes for each of the rules of formation including white exceptionalism, white male national, and international, regulatory bodies, the profession know-how practical knowledge, and its need for recognition within a bio-medical paradigm. Unearthing the historical markers of a curriculum and viewing it as discourse may enable a conscious reconfiguration thereof