Threatened biodiversity, the nema eia regulations and cultivation of virgin land: more of the sorry same?

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulations published in terms of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) have extended an unprecedented degree of environmental oversight into the domain of agricultural decision-making. However, threatened Cape flora occurring in remnants of less than three hectares in extent will be denied such protection pending their incorporation in a national list of threatened ecosystems. Until such listing, unresolved legal questions that inhibited the effective consideration of biodiversity in agricultural decision-making prior to the promulgation of the NEMA EIA regulations are likely to persist—to the detriment of a globally imperilled biodiversity. This contribution sets out to identify some of the key issues that inhibited mainstreaming of biodiversity in agri-environmental decision-making in the Western Cape. It also attempts to show that the NEMA EIA dispensation has inherited some problems in respect of cultivation that would result in the transformation or removal of less than three hectares of vegetation in Critically Endangered and Endangered ecosystems—which, until listed in terms of biodiversity law, will have no legal protection. Lastly, the contribution provides an analysis of, and suggest a number of options for ensuring that biodiversity is given its appropriate due in the issuing of cultivation permits that otherwise may contribute to the further degradation and loss of some of the most threatened elements of the globally unique Cape flora

Ofício-Circular n.º 06/2013/CC

Sessão Ordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 27 de junho de 2013, quinta-feira, às 14h30min, na Sala Prof. Ayrton Roberto de Oliveira

Ofício-Circular n.º 07/2013/CC

Sessão Extraordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 4 de julho de 2013, quinta-feira, às 15h, na Sala Prof. Ayrton Roberto de Oliveira

Ofício-Circular nº. 03/2013/CC

Sessão Ordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 28 de março de 2013, quinta-feira, às 14h, na Sala Prof. Ayrton Roberto de Oliveira

Ofício-Circular n.º 08/2013/CC

Convocação para a Sessão Extraordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 31 de julho de 2013, quarta-feira, às 14h

Ofício-Circular nº. 02/2013/CC

Sessão Extraordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 18 de março de 2013, segunda-feira, às 14h, na Sala Prof. Ayrton Roberto de Oliveira

Ofício-Circular nº. 01/2013/CC

Convocação para a Sessão Ordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 28 de fevereiro de 2013, quinta-feira, às 14h, na Sala Prof. Ayrton Roberto de Oliveira

Ofício-Circular n.º 09/2013/CC

Sessão Extraordinária do Conselho de Curadores, a realizar-se no dia 28 de agosto de 2013, quarta-feira, às 14h

Efficient Eddy Current Models for Evaluation of Thin Conductive Coatings on Ferromagnetic Substrates

Eddy current testing is widely used to determine physical characteristics of materials and to detect flaws by measurements of the electrical impedance of an eddy current probe. In this paper two analytical models allowing to determine properties of non-magnetic conductive coatings on ferromagnetic conductive substrates, are reported. Operating at a single frequency, two following quantities can be determined: permeability-to-conductivity ratio of the substrate and thickness-conductivity product of the coating [1, 2]. The method was validated using both long solenoids and air core surface coils, and was applied to the evaluation of zinc coatings on steel wires and sheets. The theoretical solutions given for high arguments are compact, and allow fast inversion, respectively around 400 and 10 ms for a pancake surface coil and for a long encircling solenoid. Two series of samples: Ø2.2 mm low carbon steel electro galvanized wires and 0.75–20 mm thick hot dip galvanized sheets, were inspected. Steel sheet samples with artificial coatings, as aluminum foils glued from both sides, were also examined. Experimental data of the coil electrical impedance were compared to those predicted. Agreement between theory and experiment is excellent. The technique developed has an extremely low sensitivity to the substrate conductivity and permeability variations [2]. A DC magnetic field, significantly diminishing the permeability of the substrate, almost does not influence results of the coating thickness determination. The agreement between measured thickness and that obtained by other methods is excellent. The accuracy of the thickness determination typically about 1 μ is obtained

Continuity properties of measurable group cohomology

A version of group cohomology for locally compact groups and Polish modules has previously been developed using a bar resolution restricted to measurable cochains. That theory was shown to enjoy analogs of most of the standard algebraic properties of group cohomology, but various analytic features of those cohomology groups were only partially understood. This paper re-examines some of those issues. At its heart is a simple dimension-shifting argument which enables one to `regularize' measurable cocycles, leading to some simplifications in the description of the cohomology groups. A range of consequences are then derived from this argument. First, we prove that for target modules that are Fr\'echet spaces, the cohomology groups agree with those defined using continuous cocycles, and hence they vanish in positive degrees when the acting group is compact. Using this, we then show that for Fr\'echet, discrete or toral modules the cohomology groups are continuous under forming inverse limits of compact base groups, and also under forming direct limits of discrete target modules. Lastly, these results together enable us to establish various circumstances under which the measurable-cochains cohomology groups coincide with others defined using sheaves on a semi-simplicial space associated to the underlying group, or sheaves on a classifying space for that group. We also prove in some cases that the natural quotient topologies on the measurable-cochains cohomology groups are Hausdorff.Comment: 52 pages. [Nov 22, 2011:] Major re-write with Calvin C. Moore as new co-author. Results from previous version strengthened and several new results added. [Nov 25, 2012:] Final version now available at springerlink.co