Promoting renewable energy in South Africa through the inclusion of market-based instruments in South Africa's legal and policy framework with particular reference to the feed-in tariff

Includes bibliographical references.The thesis considers the problem of climate change and identifies that the use of fossil fuels to generate energy since the Industrial Revolution has been a significant factor fuelling the emission of greenhouse gases and the consequent increase in global temperatures. Due to continuing economic growth, greenhouse gas emissions show no signs of abating. The thesis argues that promoting renewable energy would contribute to displacing fossil fuel-generated energy and a consequent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions or, at least, the rate at which such emissions are increasing. However, a significant barrier to the uptake of renewable energy is that it generally has higher initial costs than conventional fossil fuel-generated energy. In recognition of this barrier, a number of market-based instruments have been introduced internationally to support the uptake of renewable energy. Through a discussion of the literature, the thesis identifies that the renewable energy feed-in tariff has thus far been the most effective instrument in promoting renewable energy. It considers international examples of the feed-in tariff with a focus on Germany, which is largely considered to have had the most success with the feed-in tariff. In South Africa, which has a coal-based economy, renewable energy has only started to gain importance relatively recently. The thesis traces the development of renewable energy policy in South Africa through a consideration of the relevant legislation and policy documents as well as the market-based instruments that have been introduced to promote renewable energy. Even though the South African government has chosen to implement renewables tendering in respect of specific quantities of renewable energy, the thesis – in light of the numerous advantages of the feed-in tariff and its effectiveness internationally – argues in favour of a feed-in tariff and examines the elements of a feed-in tariff framework in the South African context

Human rights discourse: friend or foe of African women’s sexual freedoms?

From an overview of the current state of the global debate on human rights, the need to strike a balance between the transcendent and immanent dimensions of such rights claims is distilled as an important guideline. The implications of such a balance are spelled out in a list of seven principles that should guide the activation of human rights claims in any context. In the second section of the article this general framework is brought to bear on the serious issue of sexual violence against women in the South African postcolony. I argue that at least one of the reasons for the fundamental un-freedom of women in contemporary South Africa is the clash between two dominant, but opposing frameworks that tend to quash the radical potential that a claim to the fundamental right to bodily integrity holds for women. Strategically, it is vitally important that human rights activism be used to bolster this cause in the South African context. This should, however, be done very consciously and explicitly with the various dangers for perversion and co-optation, as spelled out in this article, firmly in mind. Ideally, feminist thinkers and activists should forge solidarity around a critical, transcendent claim to bodily bolstered integrity as strongly as possible by indigenous traditions of women’s resistance to oppression and exploitation. Such a claim should be mobilised for an internal critique of the master narrative of South African liberation. Such a stance will resist and refuse both dominant frameworks that collaborate – despite their overt mutual opposition – to portray African tradition and identity as irredeemably patriarchal

Re-imagining International Environmental Law for the Anthropocene Epoch: An Earth System Law Perspective

Concerns have been raised regarding the ability of international environmental law to respond to potentially irreversible earth system transformations in the Anthropocene. We argue that in order for international environmental law to have the capacity to respond to the socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene, it should embrace an earth system perspective. Earth system law, which is grounded in an earth system perspective, has been proposed as a new epistemic framework to facilitate the legal transformations necessary to respond to such socio-ecological challenges. With reference to recent developments in the international environmental law domain, we discuss the ways in which international environmental law currently fails to align with such a perspective and the types of considerations that international environmental law should reflect in order to be more responsive to a transforming earth system and, thus, better fit-for-purpose in the Anthropocene

Guiding Environmental Law’s Transformation into Earth System Law Through the Telecoupling Framework

Insights from Earth system science show us that we are crossing over into a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Yet, environmental law has failed to integrate these insights and adopt an Earth system perspective, with the result that environmental law has arguably become incapable of responding to the numerous complex, interconnected, and non-linear challenges of an erratic Earth system in the Anthropocene. Earth system law is proposed as a response and is intended to ‘translate’ Earth system science insights into the legal domain, thereby transforming Holocene nvironmental law and making it more fit for purpose in the Anthropocene. In order to practically explore how this transformation could take place, reliance is placed on the telecoupling framework, which analyses interconnected or coupled human and natural systems over distances. With reference to the mining activities conducted by Canadian companies in Mexico, the telecoupling framework is revealed as a valuable tool for thinking about environmental law in Earth system terms and enabling one to see a range of deeply intertwined telecoupled issues and considerations that must be taken account of by the law. In turn, this enables one to begin to imagine the types of considerations that should be incorporated into legal responses in order to adequately respond to the socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene

The effect of dietary red palm oil on the functional recovery of the ischaemic/reperfused isolated rat heart: the involvement of the PI3-Kinase signaling pathway

We have previously shown that dietary red palm oil (RPO) supplementation improves functional recovery in hearts subjected to ischaemia/reperfusion-induced injury. Unfortunately, the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon are still poorly understood and no knowledge exists regarding the effects of RPO supplementation on the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K) signaling pathway and apoptosis during ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, the aims of the present study were three fold: (i) to establish the effect of RPO on the functional recovery of the heart after ischaemia/reperfuion injury; (ii) to determine the effect of the PI3-K pathway in RPO-induced protection with the aid of an inhibitor (wortmannin); and (iii) to evaluate apoptosis in our model. Wistar rats were fed a standard rat chow control diet or a control diet plus 7 g RPO/kg for six weeks. Hearts were excised and mounted on a Langendorff perfusion apparatus. Mechanical function was measured after a 25 min period of total global ischaemia followed by 30 minutes of reperfusion. Hearts subjected to the same conditions were freeze-clamped for biochemical analysis at 10 min during reperfusion to determine the involvement of the PI3-Kinase signaling pathway and apoptosis in our model. Dietary RPO supplementation significantly increased % rate pressure product recovery during reperfusion (71.0 ± 6.3% in control vs 92.36 ± 4.489% in RPO; p < 0.05). The % rate pressure product recovery was significantly reduced when wortmannin was added during perfusion (92.36 ± 4.489% in the RPO group vs 75.21 ± 5.26% in RPO + Wm). RPO + Wm also significantly attenuated PI3-K induction compared with the RPO group (59.2 ± 2.8 pixels in RPO vs 37.9 ± 3.4 pixels in RPO + Wm). We have also demonstrated that PI3-K inhibition induced PARP cleavage (marker of apoptosis) in the hearts during ischaemia/reperfusion injury and that RPO supplementation counteracted this effect

Activating whole brain® innovation : a means of nourishing multiple intelligence in higher education

The interconnectedness of the constructs ‘whole brain® thinking’ and ‘multiple intelligence’ forms the epicentre of this article. We depart from the premise that when whole brain® thinking is activated multiple intelligence can be nourished. When this becomes evident in a higher education practice it can be claimed that such a practice is innovative. Whole brain® thinking that informs intelligence and vice versa is inevitable when it comes to facilitating learning with a view to promoting quality learning in the context of higher education. If higher education is concerned about the expectations of industry and the world of work there is no other option as to prepare students in such a way that they develo as holistic – whole brained and intelligent – employers, employees and entrepreneurs who take responsibility for maximising their full potential. Becoming a self-regulated professional and being reflexive are some of the attributes of the 21st century which should be cultivated in all students. Research on whole brain® thinking and multiple intelligence shows that these human attributes form an integral part of one’s interaction with life – one’s environment and especially people as integral part of the environment. This focus on people highlights the need for developing soft skills within every curriculum. The epistemological underpinning of our reporting of experience in practice and research of the application of the principals of the constructs is metareflective in nature. Instead of a typical traditional stance to research we do not report on the numerous sets of data obtained over a period of more than 15 years. Our approach is that of a meta-reflective narrative as most of the studies we were involved in and still are, are reflective as it is most often than not action research-driven. And action research is a reflective process. We report on evidence-based practice that includes fields of specialisation such as health sciences, engineering, academic staff development, financial sciences, teacher education and higher education. Important aspects of any higher education practice, such as curriculum development, facilitating of learning and assessment are addressed. Practice-based evidence of each, where applicable, is offered as claims of innovation.http://www.td-sa.netam201

A conversation with Anne Phillips on multiculturalism

During March 2015, Professor Anne Phillips of the London School of Economics was a visiting fellow at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). On 13 March a group of nine gender scholars from different disciplines held a one-day workshop to explore the notion of multiculturalism with her. At the end of the workshop it was suggested that Gender Questions should conduct an electronic interview with Professor Phillips and that the scholars who attended the workshop would write responses to the interview. What follows are the interview with Professor Phillips and responses from four of the gender scholars who attended: Professor Amanda Gouws (Political Science, Stellenbosch University) Professor Desiree Lewis (Women's and Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape), Professor Louise du Toit (Philosophy, Stellenbosch University), and Dr Stella Viljoen (Fine Arts, Stellenbosch University). The other scholars who attended were Professor Shireen Hassim (Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand), Professor Kopano Ratele (Unisa/Medical Research Council), Professor Cherryl Walker (Sociology, Stellenbosch University) and Dr Christi van der Westhuizen (HUMA, University of Cape Town)

Metabolic alterations in mothers living with HIV and their HIV-exposed, uninfected infants

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the privacy of the participants.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : TABLE S1: Demographic and clinical characteristics of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6 and 10 weeks and 6 months; TABLE S2: Metabolomics data of pregnant women living with HIV and HIV-uninfected pregnant women at 28 weeks’ gestation; TABLE S3: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at birth; TABLE S4: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6/10 weeks; TABLE S5: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6 months.HIV-exposed, uninfected (HEU) children present with suboptimal growth and a greater susceptibility to infection in early life when compared to HIV-unexposed, uninfected (HUU) children. The reasons for these findings are poorly understood. We used a metabolomics approach to investigate the metabolic differences between pregnant women living with HIV (PWLWH) and their HEU infants compared to the uninfected and unexposed controls. Untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed using 1H-NMR spectroscopy on maternal plasma at 28 weeks’ gestation and infant plasma at birth, 6/10 weeks, and 6 months. PWLWH were older but, apart from a larger 28 week mid-upper-arm circumference, anthropometrically similar to the controls. At all the time points, HEU infants had a significantly reduced growth compared to HUU infants. PWLWH had lower plasma 3-hydroxybutyric acid, acetoacetic acid, and acetic acid levels. In infants at birth, threonine and myo-inositol levels were lower in the HEU group while formic acid levels were higher. At 6/10 weeks, betaine and tyrosine levels were lower in the HEU group. Finally, at six months, 3-hydroxyisobutyric acid levels were lower while glycine levels were higher in the HEU infants. The NMR analysis has provided preliminary information indicating differences between HEU and HUU infants’ plasma metabolites involved in energy utilization, growth, and protection from infection.The umbrella study, of which this study forms a part, was largely funded by Collaborative Initiative for Paediatrics HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) funding from the International AIDS Society.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/viruseshj2024ImmunologyPaediatrics and Child HealthSDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein