Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and South African courts' interpretation of the legislative framework

The debate on the issue of the submission of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) goes back to the 1970s. The value of EIAs was first recognised by the South African government in 1976 with a report by the-then South African Council for the Environment entitled Identification and Evaluation of the Effects of Development Projects on the Environment and in 1980 with the publication of the White Paper on a National Policy regarding Environment Conservation. The White Paper formed the basis for the Environment Conservation Act (ECA) 73 of 1989, which included some provisions for EIAs

Gli2a protein localization reveals a role for Iguana/DZIP1 in primary ciliogenesis and a dependence of Hedgehog signal transduction on primary cilia in the zebrafish

Background: In mammalian cells, the integrity of the primary cilium is critical for proper regulation of the Hedgehog (Hh) signal transduction pathway. Whether or not this dependence on the primary cilium is a universal feature of vertebrate Hedgehog signalling has remained contentious due, in part, to the apparent divergence of the intracellular transduction pathway between mammals and teleost fish. Results: Here, using a functional Gli2-GFP fusion protein, we show that, as in mammals, the Gli2 transcription factor localizes to the primary cilia of cells in the zebrafish embryo and that this localization is modulated by the activity of the Hh pathway. Moreover, we show that the Igu/DZIP1 protein, previously implicated in the modulation of Gli activity in zebrafish, also localizes to the primary cilium and is required for its proper formation. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate a conserved role of the primary cilium in mediating Hedgehog signalling activity across the vertebrate phylum and validate the use of the zebrafish as a representative model for the in vivo analysis of vertebrate Hedgehog signalling

The geography of informal arts and crafts traders in South Africa’s four main city centres

The choice of location of street traders and the products they sell reflect specific geographies of flows of people. In this study the focus is on the spatial relationships between arts and crafts trading and the tourist market. This article presents the outcomes of research into the characteristics and geographies of informal trade in arts and crafts in South Africa’s four main metropolitan city centres. The results show that informal sellingof arts and crafts is a relatively small component of street trading in all four centres. Intracity variations are reported and the geographical patterns of arts and crafts traders in the four centres analysed with GIS software. The purpose of this analysis is to identify concentrations of traders specialising in arts and crafts within the general distributions of informal traders in the four cities.&nbsp

Mikrobiologiese aktiwiteit tot voordeel van die mens

Wanneer van mikroorganismes en hul aktiwiteite gepraat word, dink die meeste mense onwillekeurig in terme van siektes van mens en dier en ander skadelike invloede. Dit verbaas geensins, want dit is so dat van die mens se gevaarlikste vyande juis in die wêreld van die kleinste lewende organismes voorkom. Mikrobiologie as wetenskap het dan ook sy ontstaan gevind in die bestudering van hierdie organismes met die doel om hulle te kan beveg

Enkele aspekte van bakteriologiese navorsing

Wanneer die mens die een of andervan die haas onbekende aantal bakteriese besmettings opdoen, is dit noodsaaklik dat die spesifieke siekteverwekkende bakterie so gou moontlik geïdentifiseer sal word ten einde met ’n minimum tydverlies die nodige geneeskundige behandeling te kan toepas

Wat impleseer die stryd teen siektes?

Die stryd teen siektes is nie ’n probleem slegs van ons huidige tyd nie maar dateer reeds sedert die dae van die Bybelse geskiedenis. Die enigste verskilis dat die wapens steeds meermodern word en die stryd in omvang toeneem