The testing of gel fuels, and their comparison to alternative cooking fuels

A range of gel fuels was tested in a range of appliances designed for the fuels. The tests comprised the determination of the efficiency of the fuel/appliance combination when boiling water at full and, where possible, minimum power; and the measurement of CO, CO2 and unburned hydrocarbons collected in a hood at the burner level in normal operation. The tests were repeated with paraffin-fuelled appliances, LP gas appliances and an electric stove. In the majority of cases it was found that the gel fuels did not meet an emission standard of a CO:CO2 ratio of <0.02, and that they gave off excessive unburned hydrocarbons. It was suspected that this had to do with the mixing of the fuel vapour with air, because tests with pure ethanol in various appliances gave similar results. Tests in which appliances were modified to improve the air/fuel mixing showed that the hypothesis was valid. A subsidiary finding of the tests was that some gel fuels had excessive water, and that in these cases the condensation of the water vapour on the base of a cooking pot was so extensive that it could extinguish the flame. This leads to a recommendation that a standard for gel fuels be established. A comparison of the cost of cooking a standard meal suggests that gel fuels are unlikely to meet users needs even if improved appliances can be developed

C–H activation: A critical evaluation of a published method and its application towards inherently chiral calix[4]arenes

C–Hactivation offers an intriguing access into inherently chiral calix[4]arenes, but has been little explored in the literature. In this article, we report our investigation into a published C–H activation method that uses carbamates to direct a palladium catalyzed C–Hactivation and subsequent reaction withN-bromosuccinimide. However,we show that this report is unfortunately flawed on a number of points. An earlier reported study revealed the more likely SEAr mechanism of the bromination reaction, which did not involve palladium catalysis. We nevertheless employed the SEAr bromination in an attempt to form inherently chiral calix[4]arenes, using a chiral (+)-menthyl carbamate as a directing group. Unfortunately, although the reaction was high yielding, the diastereomers formed were inseparable and we were unable to quantify their ratio. Subsequent removal of the chiral (+)-menthyl carbamate, returned a small positive optical rotation, suggesting that at least a level of asymmetric induction was achieved in the bromination to afford a non-racemic product

What it means to succeed: Personal perceptions of career success held by senior managers

This research describes the findings of a qualitative study which analyses how senior managers conceptualise and experience career success for themselves. A non-probability voluntary sample of 24 senior managers, using objective career success criteria, was selected from two international financial institutions located in Johannesburg. This research study entailed semi-structured in-depth interviews that were digitally voice recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using content analysis. In exploring career success from the perspective of the individual (i.e. the senior manager) and not the organisation, the research attempts to fill the gap in the career literature. Findings demonstrate that although senior managers have general conceptualisations of what career success entail, they have unique personal meanings which they associate with their own career success (e.g. being associated with successful business brands, receiving feedback and recognition and adding value to the organisation). Senior managers also have specific goals set for their future in terms of careers (e.g. owning your own business venture, embracing new opportunities and investing in the community). Talent retention is particularly important among senior managers. Thus, in order to retain them as valuable employees, it is crucial to address and fulfil their career needs accordingly

Policies and scenarios for Cape Town's energy future: options for sustainable city energy development

This study examines a set of energy policy interventions, which can make a major contribution to sustainable development for the City of Cape Town – economically, environmentally and socially. Major energy savings can be made from modal shifts in the transport sector, and with efficient lighting. The savings make a contribution to economic development, by freeing up resources. The savings from energy efficiency also have important social benefits in energy savings, reducing energy bills for poor households. From an environmental point of view, implementing the city’s renewable energy target will have significant costs, but these can be partly off-set by selling carbon credits through the Clean Development Mechanism, and will result in indirect health benefits. Targeted interventions can reduce local air pollution, and help Cape Town become a leader in addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from examining the social, economic and environmental dimensions of each policy, this paper compares policies to one another. Of particular interest for sustainable energy development are those policies which are viable in terms of costs, social benefits and the environment. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) in residential, commercial and government sectors and heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) in commerce and government sectors stand out as policies that have benefits from every angle. The paper builds on previous work done on the ‘state of energy’ for Cape Town and develops a tool that can paint a picture of what might happen to energy in the future. Using the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) modelling tool, a set of energy policies have been simulated

Delimitation and characterisation of Talaromyces purpurogenus and related species

Taxa of the Talaromyces purpurogenus complex were studied using a polyphasic approach. ITS barcodes were used to show relationships between species of the T. purpurogenus complex and other Talaromyces species. RPB1, RPB2, β-tubulin and calmodulin sequences were used to delimit phylogenetic species in the complex. These data, combined with phenotypic characters, showed that the complex contains four species: T. purpurogenus, T. ruber comb. nov. and two new species T. amestolkiae sp. nov. and T. stollii sp. nov. The latter three species belong to the same clade and T. purpurogenus is located in a phylogenetic distant clade. The four species all share similar conidiophore morphologies, but can be distinguished by macromorphological characters. Talaromyces ruber has a very distinct colony texture on malt extract agar (MEA), produces bright yellow and red mycelium on yeast extract sucrose agar (YES) and does not produce acid on creatine sucrose agar (CREA). In contrast, T. amestolkiae and T. stollii produce acid on CREA. These two species can be differentiated by the slower growth rate of T. amestolkiae on CYA incubated at 36 °C. Furthermore, T. stollii produces soft synnemata-like structures in the centre of colonies on most media. Extrolite analysis confirms the distinction of four species in the T. purpurogenus complex. The red diffusing pigment in T. purpurogenus is a mixture of the azaphilone extrolites also found in Monascus species, including N-glutarylrubropunctamine and rubropunctatin. Talaromyces purpurogenus produced four different kinds of mycotoxins: rubratoxins, luteoskyrin, spiculisporic acid and rugulovasins and these mycotoxins were not detected in the other three specie

Policies and scenarios for Cape Town’s energy future: Options for sustainable city energy development

This study examines a set of energy policy interventions, which can make a major contribution to sustainable development for the City of Cape Town – economically, environmentally and socially. Major energy savings can be made from modal shifts in the transport sector, and with efficient lighting. The savings make a contribution to economic development, by freeing up resources. The savings from energy efficiency also have important social benefits in energy savings, reducing energy bills for poor households. From an environmental point of view, implementing the city’s renewable energy target will have significant costs, but these can be partly off-set by selling carbon credits through the Clean Development Mechanism, and will result in indirect health benefits. Targeted interventions can reduce local air pollution, and help Cape Town become a leader in addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Apart from examining the social, economic and environmental dimensions of each policy, this paper compares policies to one another. Of particular interest for sustainable energy development are those policies which are viable in terms of costs, social benefits and the environment. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) in residential, commercial and government sectors and heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) in commerce and government sectors stand out as policies that have benefits from every angle. The paper builds on previous work done on the ‘state of energy’ for Cape Town and develops a tool that can paint a picture of what might happen to energy in the future. Using the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) modelling tool, a set of energy policies have been simulated

BOWiki: an ontology-based wiki for annotation of data and integration of knowledge in biology.

MOTIVATION: Ontology development and the annotation of biological data using ontologies are time-consuming exercises that currently require input from expert curators. Open, collaborative platforms for biological data annotation enable the wider scientific community to become involved in developing and maintaining such resources. However, this openness raises concerns regarding the quality and correctness of the information added to these knowledge bases. The combination of a collaborative web-based platform with logic-based approaches and Semantic Web technology can be used to address some of these challenges and concerns. RESULTS: We have developed the BOWiki, a web-based system that includes a biological core ontology. The core ontology provides background knowledge about biological types and relations. Against this background, an automated reasoner assesses the consistency of new information added to the knowledge base. The system provides a platform for research communities to integrate information and annotate data collaboratively. AVAILABILITY: The BOWiki and supplementary material is available at . The source code is available under the GNU GPL from

Functionality of Intergenic Transcription: An Evolutionary Comparison

Although a large proportion of human transcription occurs outside the boundaries of known genes, the functional significance of this transcription remains unknown. We have compared the expression patterns of known genes as well as intergenic transcripts within the ENCODE regions between humans and chimpanzees in brain, heart, testis, and lymphoblastoid cell lines. We find that intergenic transcripts show patterns of tissue-specific conservation of their expression, which are comparable to exonic transcripts of known genes. This suggests that intergenic transcripts are subject to functional constraints that restrict their rate of evolutionary change as well as putative positive selection to an extent comparable to that of classical protein-coding genes. In brain and testis, we find that part of this intergenic transcription is caused by widespread use of alternative promoters. Further, we find that about half of the expression differences between humans and chimpanzees are due to intergenic transcripts