Basic characteristics of atmospheric particles, trace gases and meteorology in a relatively clean Southern African Savannah environment

We have analyzed one year (July 2006–July 2007) of measurement data from a relatively clean background site located in dry savannah in South Africa. The annual-median trace gas concentrations were equal to 0.7 ppb for SO<sub>2</sub>, 1.4 ppb for NO<sub>x</sub>, 36 ppb for O<sub>3</sub> and 105 ppb for CO. The corresponding PM<sub>1</sub>, PM<sub>2.5</sub> and PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations were 9.0, 10.5 and 18.8 μg m<sup>−3</sup>, and the annual median total particle number concentration in the size range 10–840 nm was 2340 cm<sup>−3</sup>. During Easterly winds, influence of industrial sources approximately 150 km away from the measurement site was clearly visible, especially in SO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>x</sub> concentrations. Of gases, NO<sub>x</sub> and CO had a clear annual, and SO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub> and O<sub>3</sub> clear diurnal cycle. Atmospheric new-particle formation was observed to take place in more than 90% of the analyzed days. The days with no new particle formation were cloudy or rainy days. The formation rate of 10 nm particles varied in the range of 0.1–28 cm<sup>−3</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> (median 1.9 cm<sup>−3</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>) and nucleation mode particle growth rates were in the range 3–21 nm h<sup>−1</sup> (median 8.5 nm h<sup>−1</sup>). Due to high formation and growth rates, observed new particle formation gives a significant contribute to the number of cloud condensation nuclei budget, having a potential to affect the regional climate forcing patterns

African Communitarianism and Difference

There has been the recurrent suspicion that community, harmony, cohesion, and similar relational goods as understood in the African ethical tradition threaten to occlude difference. Often, it has been Western defenders of liberty who have raised the concern that these characteristically sub-Saharan values fail to account adequately for individuality, although some contemporary African thinkers have expressed the same concern. In this chapter, I provide a certain understanding of the sub-Saharan value of communal relationship and demonstrate that it entails a substantial allowance for difference. I aim to show that African thinkers need not appeal to, say, characteristically Euro-American values of authenticity or autonomy to make sense of why individuals should not be pressured to conform to a group’s norms regarding sex and gender. A key illustration involves homosexuality

ABSTRACTS OF PRESENTATIONS

Second International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives, abstracts of presentation

‘Now you call us colleagues’: A reflection on the PPER students’ experience of becoming researchers 2007 and 2009

Students within academic research projects usually assume a role of supporting the academics/scholars who are undertaking those research projects. The students’ identity in this case is regarded as research assistants, with minimal valued input to the project itself. With time, however, this identity may change based on the roles and relationships between students and the academics in the projects. Drawing on our experiences as students embarking on their postgraduate studies within such a project, this article reflects on the shift in the relationships between us and the supervisors, who are the academics undertaking a Project on Postgraduate Education Research (PPER). It narrates the changing dynamics of our identities within this project from being called ‘students’ to ‘colleagues’ as we participate in the project. Two theories frame this article. First is Sambrook, Stewart and Roberts’s (2008) typology of supervisory relationships which is described as distanced professional/academic; familiar professional/academic; and familiar social/academic. Second, we use Michaelsen’s (2004) team-based learning to understand the collaborative learning within research projects

‘Now you call us colleagues’: A reflection on the PPER students’ experience of becoming researchers 2007 and 2009

Students within academic research projects usually assume a role of supporting the academics/scholars who are undertaking those research projects. The students’ identity in this case is regarded as research assistants, with minimal valued input to the project itself. With time, however, this identity may change based on the roles and relationships between students and the academics in the projects. Drawing on our experiences as students embarking on their postgraduate studies within such a project, this article reflects on the shift in the relationships between us and the supervisors, who are the academics undertaking a Project on Postgraduate Education Research (PPER). It narrates the changing dynamics of our identities within this project from being called ‘students’ to ‘colleagues’ as we participate in the project. Two theories frame this article. First is Sambrook, Stewart and Roberts’s (2008) typology of supervisory relationships which is described as distanced professional/academic; familiar professional/academic; and familiar social/academic. Second, we use Michaelsen’s (2004) team-based learning to understand the collaborative learning within research projects