The Germiston by-election of 1932: the state and the white working class during the Depression

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented August 1977The Germiston by-election of 1932 was significant in itself. At the time it attracted detailed national coverage. It was marked by an intensity of campaigning which often erupted in violence, but also ensured a very high turnout at the poll. Five government ministers and several opposition spokesmen visited the constituency to speak in support of their respective candidates. Moreover there was no shortage of candidates. Five parties stood in the election, and a further four candidates, including one black, proposed to stand at some time or other during the election period. The election was influenced by specifically local factors: particularly by a bitter strike in the clothing industry. "However, the by-election was of truly national significance. Not only did the outcome of the election represent a crushing defeat for the Nationalist/Pact Government of the time, and thus rendered Hertzog more amenable to the idea of coalition. More than this, the by-election raised more general questions about the whole relationship between the 'power bloc1 and the 'white working class', and highlighted very clearly the impact of the Depression on certain sections of white workers

Initial geological considerations before installing ground source heat pump systems

The performance of an open- or closed-loop ground source heat pump system depends on local geological conditions. It is important that these are determined as accurately as possible when designing a system, to maximize efficiency and minimize installation costs. Factors that need to be considered are surface temperature, subsurface temperatures down to 100–200 m, thermal conductivities and diffusivities of the soil and rock layers, groundwater levels and flows, and aquifer properties. In addition, rock strength is a critical factor in determining the excavation or drilling method required at a site and the associated costs. The key to determining all of these factors is an accurate conceptual site-scale model of the ground conditions (soils, geology, thermogeology, engineering geology and hydrogeology). The British Geological Survey has used the modern digital geological mapping of the UK as a base onto which appropriate attributes can be assigned. As a result it is possible to generate regional maps of surface and subsurface temperatures, rock strength and depth to water. This information can be used by designers, planners and installers of ground source heat pump systems. The use of appropriate geological factors will assist in creating a system that meets the heating or cooling load of the building without unnecessary overengineering

Do possible worlds compromise God’s beauty? A reply to Mark Ian Thomas Robson

In a recent article Mark Ian Thomas Robson argues that there is a clear contradiction between the view that possible worlds are a part of God's nature and the theologically pivotal, but philosophically neglected, claim that God is perfectly beautiful. In this article I show that Robson's argument depends on several key assumptions that he fails to justify and as such that there is reason to doubt the soundness of his argument. I also demonstrate that if Robson's argument were sound then this would be a problem for all classical theists and not just those who hold the possible worlds view

Optimal regionalization of wastewater treatment for water quality management

A mathematical decision model is developed which determines how a group of waste dischargers should regionalize their treatment facilities and the amount of treatment each facility should provide so that the cost of achieving a specified water quality goal is minimized. The waste dischargers are assumed to lie in a linear configuration along (or on both sides of) the river and several other regionalization restrictions are imposed. Treatment plant and piping costs as functions of wasteflow can be of any form and may include fixed costs. The model is solved by using a dual approach to nonlinear programming and is applied to data from the Delaware Estuary. The results compare favorably with previous regionalization schemes. The model is extended to consider branched systems and the use of bypass piping. Two additional minimum cost, regional wastewater treatment models are developed; one which finds the regional treatment facility pattern when degree of treatment is fixed and another which finds the regional facility pattern and uniform level of treatment for all facilities so that a water quality goal is met.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

DELIBERATION, JUDGEMENT AND THE NATURE OF EVIDENCE

A normative Bayesian theory of deliberation and judgement requires a procedure for merging the evidence of a collection of agents. In order to provide such a procedure, one needs to ask what the evidence is that grounds Bayesian probabilities. After finding fault with several views on the nature of evidence (the views that evidence is knowledge; that evidence is whatever is fully believed; that evidence is observationally set credence; that evidence is information), it is argued that evidence is whatever is rationally taken for granted. This view is shown to have consequences for an account of merging evidence, and it is argued that standard axioms for merging need to be altered somewhat