The South African constitution and electronic commerce

In the world of electronic commerce individuals unwittingly impart their information to possible predators of personal information. For example, cookies are used to “tag” users accessing a specific web site. When the user accesses the same site again, a copy of the cookie alerts the remote server, who then knows whom the user is and that s/he visited the site before. Obtaining and dealing in data about web users have become everyday occurrences – in some instances such “data mining” forms the main focus of several businesses. It is common cause that the Internet may be and indeed is used quite frequently in manners that infringe various rights contained in our Bill of Rights. In many cases, what happens on the Internet may also attract criminal liability. As a result it often happens that two fundamental rights, namely the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, come into potential conflict. In a democracy, freedom of expression is almost taken for granted. The press and other media, especially, rely heavily on this right. In South Africa, section 16(1) of the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, which includes, among others, freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; academic freedom and freedom of scientific research. As such, it may be that spammers have the constitutional right to commercial expression. The question is: Do spammers have the right to express themselves in private property? It is suggested that they be only allowed to do so after having obtained the consent of the individual to be included in a mailing list that would be used to send unsolicited e-mail advertising. Section 45 of the Electronic Communications Transactions Act of 2002 (ECTA) now prohibits the sending of unsolicited goods, services or communications. The right to privacy is protected by section 14 of the South African Constitution. In contrast thereto, section 32 of the Constitution guarantees the right to access to information. Neither of these rights are absolute rights, as they may be limited in accordance with section 36 of the Constitution. The ECTA prescribes that suppliers of goods on the Internet need to, amongst others, make its privacy statement available to users of its site. The ensuring of the right to privacy is not, however, a compulsory provision of ECTA. Section 50 of the ECTA provides for the voluntary compliance of the principles pertaining to the collection of personal information as set out in section 51 of the Act. Against this background, this paper addresses the South African legal background to privacy on the Internet

Voorwoord / Preface

From text: In order to describe contemporary social work contextually, a synopsis of developments in the discipline is called for. Various developmental phases in the profession are described in the research. Concerning the South African context, Potgieter (1998: 20-4) distinguishes three phases, namely social welfare in South Africa in the preapartheid era, that of the apartheid era and that of what he terms “the new era 1990 and beyond”. During the pre-apartheid area, social work in South African was primarily focused on the effects of poverty and unemployment which went hand-in-hand with urbanisation and industrialisation

The influence of proportion of Hereford breeding in a multibreed synthetic beef cattle population on birth weight and weaning weight

(South African J of Animal Science, 2000, 30, Supplement 1: 124-126

A genetic analysis of epistaxis as associated with EIPH in the Southern African Thoroughbred

Pedigree and race run data from Thoroughbreds racing in Southern Africa, covering the period 1986-2002 (63 146 horses in pedigree data-set and 778 532 race runs), were analysed in order to study genetic and environmental factors affecting the incidence of epistaxis as associated with \"exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage\" (EIPH). Variables that were tested as significant in preliminary data analyses were included as fixed effects for the model. Various combinations of such variables namely age, weight, altitude, sex, month and going were tested. Fixed effects that were included in the final model were gender, going and altitude. The heritability estimates from a logit transformed analysis for epistaxis fitting both the animal and sire models were 0.23 and 0.40, respectively, which indicated that epistaxis as associated with EIPH in Southern African Thoroughbred sires has a strong genetic basis. Genetic trends indicating an increase in epistaxis were also found. Affected stallions and those racing whilst being treated with furosemide should be barred from breeding and not be considered as future sires. Estimated breeding values for epistaxis should be used as a tool for selecting against it and be considered in breeding programmes to decrease the incidence thereof. Key Words: Estimated breeding value, Genetic factors, Heritability, Racehorse, Thoroughbred South African Journal of Animal Science Vol.34(4) 2004: 265-27

Continuing Conversations at the Frontier

Researchers involved or interested in the 500 Year Initiative (FYI) gathered at the University of Cape Town in June 2008 to explore how different disciplines engaged in historical studies may better communicate and collaborate within and between each other. Appropriately titled ‘Continuing Conversations at the Frontier’, participants in this conference challenged themselves to cross the theoretical and methodological borders separating archaeology, history, geography, anthropology and linguistics, in order to understand how and under what influence modern southern African identities have taken shape over the past 500 years. These conversations made it clear that new insights are not only reliant on new data, but that it is equally important to expose our methodologies and processes of gaining understanding. In addition to confronting disciplinary boundaries and methods, social and spatial frontiers were key loci for discussion, although it became apparent that historians and archaeologists have approached frontiers in different ways. We briefly explore the roots of these approaches

Estimates of crossbreeding parameters in a multibreed beef cattle crossbreeding project

Data from purebred and crossbred cattle, consisting of the Afrikaner (A), Simmentaler (S) and Hereford (H) breeds managed in a relatively intensive but high stocking rate environment, were analysed to estimate breed direct effects, individual heterotic effects, breed maternal and maternal heterotic effects for birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW). Simmentaler breed direct effects, expressed as deviation from the general mean, were positive (P 0.05) for WW. Individual heterotic effects for BW were significant (P 0.05) for both BW and WW. (South African Journal of Animal Science, 2000, 30(3): 193-203

Pre-weaning growth traits of the Hereford breed in a multibreed composite beef cattle population

Data from a multibreed composite beef cattle population, managed under intensive irrigated grazing conditions,were used to estimate direct additive heritabilities (h2a), maternal heritabilities (h2m) and maternal permanent environmental effects (c2) for birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW) of the calf and cow efficiency of the dam (CE: WW/dam weight0.75 x 100). Calves born between 1968 and 1993 (n = 52628) had varying levels of Hereford genes, ranging from 0% to 100%, with an average of 19.3%. Direct heritabilities, fitting unitrait models, were 0.72, 0.54 and 0.19 for BW, WW and CE, respectively, with corresponding estimates of maternal heritabilities being 0.14, 0.21 and 0.42. Genetic correlations between direct and maternal effects (ram) were negative for all three traits, varying from -0.40 to -0.65. Maternal permanent environmental effects were 0.06, 0.12 and 0.11 for BW, WW and CE, respectively. Direct breeding values and maternal breeding values for BW and WW decreased with increasing proportion of Hereford. Direct breeding value for CE increased, while maternal breeding value for CE reached a minimum value at 0.62 proportion of Hereford. (South African Journal of Animal Science, 2000, 30(3): 220-229

Reporting of child maltreatment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in New York City from March to May 2020

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Background: School closures and other public health responses have decreased the extent that children interact with mandated reporters and other professionals trained to detect child maltreatment. Objective: To assess associations between the pandemic public health response and the number of allegations of child abuse or neglect. Methods: This study analyzed monthly data from New York City of the number of child maltreatment allegations, stratified by reporter type (e.g., mandated reporter, education personnel, healthcare personnel), as well as the number of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations warranting child welfare preventative services. SARIMA models were trained using data from January 2015 to February 2020 to predict expected values for March, April, and May 2020. Observed values were compared against predicted values at an alpha of .05. Results: Substantially fewer allegations of child maltreatment were reported than expected in March (-28.8 %, deviation: 1848, 95 % CI: [1272, 2423]), April (-51.5 %, deviation: 2976, 95 % CI: [2382, 3570]), and May 2020 (-46.0 %, deviation: 2959, 95 % CI: [2347, 3571]). Significant decreases in child maltreatment reporting were also noted for all reporter subtypes examined for March, April, and May 2020. Fewer CPS investigations warranted preventative services than expected in March 2020 (-43.5 %, deviation: 303, 95 % CI: [132, 475]). Conclusions: Precipitous drops in child maltreatment reporting and child welfare interventions coincided with social distancing policies designed to mitigate COVID-19 transmission. In light of these findings, educators and healthcare providers must be especially vigilant when engaging online with children and their families for signs of child abuse and/or neglect

Crocidolite in the districts of Prieska and Hay

From Introduction: The belt of hilly country extending from the southern extremity of the Doornbergen, through Prieska, Niekerkshoop, Griquatown and Kuruman, to a point far north or the latter, constitutes a region or great scientific and economic interest. Spoken of generally as the “Blue Asbestos Belt”, it has ramifications stretching in north, and north-westerly directions from Prieska. In the south it is known as the Doornbergen, passing into the “Asbestos Mountains” north of the Orange River, while farther north it becomes the Kuruman Hills. This large area is unique in that enormous deposits of fibrous crocido1ite or "blue asbestos" are known to occur scattered more or less irregularly over the entire belt. The mineral, often accompanied by some or all of its variations and alteration products, has been reported from nearly every farm, excepting only that portion covered by Ongeluk Volcanics, and the UPPER BEDS OF THE LOWER GRIQUATOWN SERIES, which thus form the only interruption to an otherwise unbroken extension of crocidolite bearing strata