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

Atmosphere, imminence and the Manchester Arena Inquiry: on the affective modalities of becoming situationally aware to urban terrorism

Building situational awareness has become a central logic among contemporary security apparatuses for abating no-warning urban terrorism. Situational awareness, we contend, casts the sensory, perceptual and affective capacities of human bodies to decipher their immediate surroundings and attune to the non-representational and more-than-known of an enfolding situation, as essential to its execution. What modalities of sense-making and attunement, then, does this burgeoning security rationality demand? And what sensibilities, affectivities and subjectivities are (re)produced and legitimated across urban life? In this paper, we unpack these questions by examining the ways affective and atmospheric attunement(s) are infused within orthodox and emergent security approaches for developing and honing situational awareness. We argue that affective atmospheres in particular furnish the theoretical architecture for attending to the spatio-affective-material registers through which imminence becomes palpable. Empirically, by analysing the Public Inquiry following the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, we elucidate where the Inquiry advanced discussions on (the limits of) situational awareness and its sensorial, affective and atmospheric dimensions, thereby extending situational awareness into an atmospheric agenda within urban geopolitics. Finally, we reflect on how the impending UK Protect Duty might reconfigure the legal landscape of situational awareness, city resilience, and the affective economies of (in)attention

Parasitism of Lygus lineolaris Palisot de Beauvois (Heteroptera: Miridae) by Anaphes iole Girault (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) in Strawberries

Anaphes iole Girault has been reported to parasitize Lygus lineolaris Palisot de Beauvois eggs in several crops but not in strawberries. The ability of A. iole to parasitize L. lineolaris eggs in strawberries was evaluated. A. iole will parasitize and inhibit the development of L. lineolaris eggs in strawberry plants

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