Search results for: eastern cape

Authors: Rabindra K. Panda, Gurjeet Singh

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The major objective of this study was to analyze the trend and variability of rainfall in the middle Mahandi river basin located in eastern India. The trend of variation of extreme rainfall events has predominant effect on agricultural water management and extreme hydrological events such as floods and droughts. Mahanadi river basin is one of the major river basins of India having an area of 1,41,589 km² and divided into three regions: Upper, middle and delta region. The middle region of Mahanadi river basin has an area of 48,700 km² and it is mostly dominated by agricultural land, where agriculture is mostly rainfed. The study region has five Agro-climatic zones namely: East and South Eastern Coastal Plain, North Eastern Ghat, Western Undulating Zone, Western Central Table Land and Mid Central Table Land, which were numbered as zones 1 to 5 respectively for convenience in reporting. In the present study, analysis of variability and trends of annual, seasonal, and monthly rainfall was carried out, using the daily rainfall data collected from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for 35 years (1979-2013) for the 5 agro-climatic zones. The long term variability of rainfall was investigated by evaluating the mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation. The long term trend of rainfall was analyzed using the Mann-Kendall test on monthly, seasonal and annual time scales. It was found that there is a decreasing trend in the rainfall during the winter and pre monsoon seasons for zones 2, 3 and 4; whereas in the monsoon (rainy) season there is an increasing trend for zones 1, 4 and 5 with a level of significance ranging between 90-95%. On the other hand, the mean annual rainfall has an increasing trend at 99% significance level. The estimated seasonality index showed that the rainfall distribution is asymmetric and distributed over 3-4 months period. The study will help to understand the spatio-temporal variation of rainfall and to determine the correlation between the current rainfall trend and climate change scenario of the study region for multifarious use.

Keywords: Eastern India, long-term variability and trends, Mann-Kendall test, seasonality index, spatio-temporal variation

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Authors: Isaac Mugume, Charles Basalirwa, Daniel Waiswa, Triphonia Ngailo

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Rainfall is a major climatic parameter affecting many sectors such as health, agriculture and water resources. Its quantitative prediction remains a challenge to weather forecasters although numerical weather prediction models are increasingly being used for rainfall prediction. The performance of six convective parameterization schemes, namely the Kain-Fritsch scheme, the Betts-Miller-Janjic scheme, the Grell-Deveny scheme, the Grell-3D scheme, the Grell-Fretas scheme, the New Tiedke scheme of the weather research and forecast (WRF) model regarding quantitative rainfall prediction over Uganda is investigated using the root mean square error for the March-May (MAM) 2013 season. The MAM 2013 seasonal rainfall amount ranged from 200 mm to 900 mm over Uganda with northern region receiving comparatively lower rainfall amount (200–500 mm); western Uganda (270–550 mm); eastern Uganda (400–900 mm) and the lake Victoria basin (400–650 mm). A spatial variation in simulated rainfall amount by different convective parameterization schemes was noted with the Kain-Fritsch scheme over estimating the rainfall amount over northern Uganda (300–750 mm) but also presented comparable rainfall amounts over the eastern Uganda (400–900 mm). The Betts-Miller-Janjic, the Grell-Deveny, and the Grell-3D underestimated the rainfall amount over most parts of the country especially the eastern region (300–600 mm). The Grell-Fretas captured rainfall amount over the northern region (250–450 mm) but also underestimated rainfall over the lake Victoria Basin (150–300 mm) while the New Tiedke generally underestimated rainfall amount over many areas of Uganda. For deterministic rainfall prediction, the Grell-Fretas is recommended for rainfall prediction over northern Uganda while the Kain-Fritsch scheme is recommended over eastern region.

Keywords: convective parameterization schemes, March-May 2013 rainfall season, spatial variation of parameterization schemes over Uganda, WRF model

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Authors: Olusola Olasupo, E. O. C. Ijeoma

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The University of Fort Hare and the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the registered labor union at the University recognizes the significance of collective bargaining. This prompted both parties to enter into agreement with the notion to strengthening the relationship between them. The agreement was therefore entered into between NEHAWU representing the employees and the University. The agreement was signed on August 31st, 2005. The study adopting historical research method reveals the trend and implementation of bargaining agreements at University of Fort Hare from 2012 to 2016. This study examines how the implementation of bargaining agreement is utilized to solve labor related challenges and also improve on employee’s wages and conditions of service thereby strengthening the relationship between the management and employees at University of Fort Hare. The study contributes to knowledge on the effects of the implementation of bargaining agreement on wages and other conditions of service leading to harmonious relationship between the Staff and the management towards the effective administration of the University of Fort Hare. Findings reveal that ever since 2005 when the agreement was reached, University of Fort Hare and NEHAWU have been committed to improving the employees’ wages through substantive agreement. The study concludes by recommending a more effective implementation of bargaining agreement at University of Fort Hare.

Keywords: agreement, bargaining, implementation, trend

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Authors: Agholor Deborah Ewere, Emmanuel Ade, Seriki Idowu

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The role women entrepreneur plays to combat unemployment should not be underestimated, especially in countries with growing unemployment rates such as South Africa. Women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to economic development in South Africa, but their contribution has not been adequately studied and developed. Hence, the study identified business strategies adopted by women entrepreneurs to sustain growth and development of entrepreneurship. Survey research design approach was adopted and convenience sampling method was used for sample selection. The structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. The findings revealed some of the operational challenges women entrepreneur faced to include lack of finance, marketing skills and planning and also showed that the strategies adopted by women entrepreneurs have a positive effect on the success of small businesses. It was recommended among others that the women entrepreneurs should take some time to study the nature of challenges other women have faced in business and possibly provide solutions to such issues before starting their own business. It was however concluded that unless the operational challenges named above are resolved, the role of women entrepreneurs in the developing nations will continue to experience deprived economic growth, development and display substandard competitiveness.

Keywords: business, entrepreneurs, small, strategies, success, women

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Authors: Anele Horn, Amanda Van Eeden

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The emphasis on the challenges posed by continued urbanisation, especially in developing countries has resulted in urban sprawl often researched and analysed in metropolitan urban areas, but rarely in small and medium towns. Consequently, there exists no comparative instrument between the proportional extent of urban sprawl in metropolitan areas measured against that of small and medium towns. This research proposes an Urban Sprawl Index as a possible tool to comparatively analyse the extent of urban sprawl between cities and towns of different sizes. The index can also be used over the longer term by authorities developing spatial policy to track the success or failure of specific tools intended to curb urban sprawl. In South Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the last two decades witnessed a proliferation of legislation and spatial policies to limit urban sprawl and contain the physical expansion and development of urban areas, but the measurement of the successes or failures of these instruments intending to curb expansive land development has remained a largely unattainable goal, largely as a result of the absence of an appropriate measure of proportionate comparison. As a result of the spatial political history of Apartheid, urban areas acquired a spatial form that contributed to the formation of single-core cities with far reaching and wide-spreading peripheral development, either in the form of affluent suburbs or as a result of post-Apartheid programmes such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (1995) which, in an attempt to assist the immediate housing shortage, favoured the establishment of single dwelling residential units for low income communities on single plots on affordable land at the urban periphery. This invariably contributed to urban sprawl and even though this programme has since been abandoned, the trend towards low density residential development continues. The research area is the Western Cape Province in South Africa, which in all aspects exhibit the spatial challenges described above. In academia and popular media the City of Cape Town (the only Metropolitan authority in the province) has received the lion’s share of focus in terms of critique on urban development and spatial planning, however, the smaller towns and cities in the Western Cape arguably received much less public attention and were spared the naming and shaming of being unsustainable urban areas in terms of land consumption and physical expansion. The Urban Sprawl Index for the Western Cape (USIWC) put forward by this research enables local authorities in the Western Cape Province to measure the extent of urban sprawl proportionately and comparatively to other cities in the province, thereby acquiring a means of measuring the success of the spatial instruments employed to limit urban expansion and inefficient land consumption. In development of the USIWC the research made use of satellite data for reference years 2001 and 2011 and population growth data extracted from the national census, also for base years 2001 and 2011.

Keywords: urban sprawl, index, Western Cape, South Africa

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Authors: Adam Chlapecka, Anna Kagstrom, Pavla Cermakova

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Background: Increasing educational attainment (EA) could decrease the occurrence of depression. We investigated the relationship between EA and depressive symptoms in older individuals across four European regions. Methods: We studied 108 315 Europeans (54 % women, median age 63 years old) from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe assessing EA (7 educational levels based on ISCED classification); and depressive symptoms (≥ 4 points on EURO-D scale). Logistic regression estimated the association between EA and depressive symptoms, adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related factors; testing for sex/age/region and education interactions. Results: Higher EA was associated with lower odds of depressive symptoms, independent of sociodemographic and health-related factors. A threshold of the lowest odds of depressive symptoms was detected at the first stage of tertiary education (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.55-0.65; p<0.001; relative to no education). Central and Eastern Europe showed the strongest association (OR for high vs. low education 0.37; 95% CI 0.33-0.40; p<0.001) and Scandinavia the weakest (OR for high vs. low education 0.69; 95% CI 0.60-0.80; p<0.001). The association was strongest amongst younger individuals. There was a sex and education interaction only within Central and Eastern Europe. Conclusion: The level of EA is reflected in later-life depressive symptoms, suggesting that supporting individuals in achieving EA, and considering those with lower EA at increased risk for depression, could lead to the decreased burden of depression across the life course. Further educational support in Central and Eastern Europe may decrease the higher burden of depressive symptoms in women.

Keywords: depression, education, epidemiology, Europe

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Authors: Yichen Liu, Gexing Ding

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Past research seeking to understand our ability to update social impressions in light of behavioral inconsistencies has shown that morality is more dominant in impression formation and updating than ability (e.g. friendly vs. efficient). In this study, we aim to test whether this pattern holds among the teenage population in an eastern society. Our findings revealed that competency and moral judgments go beyond impression formation in social cognition by influencing physical attractiveness evaluation. Moreover, our results confirmed that moral description has a leading role over the other basic dimensions of human social cognition (i.e., competency) in driving the impression formation process in an eastern society. However, competency information was generally perceived as more favorable than moral information, regardless of valence. Further investigation is needed to understand the mechanism of such effects.

Keywords: impression formation, social cognition, moral judgment, cross-cultural

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Authors: Yaser Maher Abdel Aziz Hawa

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An assemblage of Mn-bearing ilmenite, titanomagnetite (4-17 vol.%) and subordinate chalcopyrite, pyrrhptite and pyrite is present as dissiminations in gabbroic rocks of Abu Ghalaga area, Eastern Desert, Egypt. The neoproterozoic gabbroic rocks encompasses these opaques are emplaced during oceanic island arc stage which represents the Nubian shield of Egypt. However, some textural features of these opaques suggest a relict igneous. The high Mn (up to 5.8 MnO%, 1282% MnTiO3) and very low Mg contents (0.21 MgO%, 0.82 MgTiO3) are dissimilar to those of any igneous ilmenite of tholeiitic rocks. Most of these ilmenites are associated mostly with metamorphic hornblende. Hornblende thermometry estimate crystallization of about 560°C. the present study suggests that the ilmenite under consideration has been greatly metamorphically modified, having lost Mg and gained Mn by diffusion.

Keywords: titanomagnetite, Ghalaga, ilmenite, chemistry

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Authors: Adel H.El-Afandy, Abd Alrahman Embaby, Mona A. El Harairey

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Abu Marw area is located in the southeastern part of the Eastern Desert, about 150km south east of Aswan. Abu Marw area is mainly covered by late Proterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks. These basement rocks are nonconformably overlain by late Cretaceous Nubian sandstones in the western and northern parts of the areas. Abu Marw granitoid batholiths comprises a co-magmatic calc alkaline I type peraluminous suite of rocks ranging in composition from tonalite, granodiorite, monzogranite, syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The studied tonalite and granodiorite samples have ΣREE lower than the average REE values (250ppm) of granitic rocks, while the monzogranite, syenogranite and alkali feldspar granite samples have ΣREE above the average REE values of granitic rocks. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the considered granites display a gull-wing shape, characterized by large to moderately fractionated patterns and high LREE relative to the MREE and HREE contents. Furthermore, the studied rocks have a steadily decreasing Eu/Eu* values from the tonalite to the alkali feldspar granite with simultaneous increase in the ΣREE contents. The average U contents in different granitic rocks.

Keywords: granite, rare earth element, radioactivity, Abu Marw, south eastern desert

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Authors: Carlo Cogliati

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The study of the relationship of philosophical reason with the religious domain has been very much a concern for many of the Western philosophical and theological traditions. In this essay, I will suggest a proposal for an Eastern philosophy of religion based on Nishida’s contradictory identity of the two: philosophy soku hi (is, and yes is not) religion. This will pose a challenge to the traditional Western contents and methods of the discipline. This paper aims to serve three purposes. First, I will critically assess Charlesworth’s typology of the relation between philosophy and religion in the West: philosophy as/for/against/about/after religion. I will also engage Harrison’s call for a global philosophy of religion(s) and argue that, although it expands the scope and the range of the questions to address, it is still Western in its method. Second, I will present Nishida’s logic of absolutely contradictory self-identity as the instrument to transcend the dichotomous pair of identity and contradiction: ‘A is A’ and ‘A is not A’. I will then explain how this ‘concrete’ logic of the East, as opposed to the ‘formal’ logic of the West, exhibits at best the bilateral dynamic relation between philosophy and religion. Even as Nishida argues for the non-separability of the two, he is also aware and committed to their mutual non-reducibility. Finally, I will outline the resulting new relation between God and creatures. Nishida in his philosophy soku hi religion replaces the traditional Western dualistic concept of God with the Eastern non-dualistic understanding of God as “neither transcendent nor immanent, and at the same time both transcendent and immanent.” God is therefore a self-identity of contradiction, nowhere and yet everywhere present in the world of creatures. God as absolute being is also absolute nothingness: the world of creatures is the expression of God’s absolute self-negation. The overreaching goal of this essay is to offer an alternative to traditional Western approaches to philosophy of religion based on Nishida’s logic of absolutely contradictory self-identity, as an example of philosophical and religious counter(influence). The resulting relationship between philosophy and religion calls for a revision of traditional concepts and methods. The outcome is not to reformulate the Eastern predilection to not sharply distinguish philosophical thought from religious enlightenment rather to bring together philosophy and religion in the place of identity and difference.

Keywords: basho, Nishida Kitaro, shukyotetsugaku, soku hi, zettai mujunteki jikodoitsu no ronri

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Authors: Hui Tag, Jambey Tsering, Pallabi Kalita Hui, Baikuntha Jyoti Gogoi, Vijay Veer

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The food security issues and its relevance in High Mountain regions of the world have been often neglected. Wild edible plants have been playing a major role in livelihood security among the tribal Communities of East Himalayan Region of the world since time immemorial. The Eastern Himalayan Region of India is one of the mega diverse regions of world and rated as top 12th Global Biodiversity Hotspots by IUCN and recognized as one of the 200 significant eco-regions of the Globe. The region supports one of the world’s richest alpine floras and about one-third of them are endemic to the region. There are at least 7,500 flowering plants, 700 orchids, 58 bamboo species, 64 citrus species, 28 conifers, 500 mosses, 700 ferns and 728 lichens. The region is the home of more than three hundred different ethnic communities having diverse knowledge on traditional uses of flora and fauna as food, medicine and beverages. Monpa, Memba and Khamba are among the local communities residing in high altitude region of Eastern Himalaya with rich traditional knowledge related to utilization of wild edible plants. The Monpas, Memba and Khamba are the followers Mahayana sect of Himalayan Buddhism and they are mostly agrarian by primary occupation and also heavily relaying on wild edible plants for their livelihood security during famine since millennia. In the present study, we have reported traditional uses of 40 wild edible plant species and out of which 6 species were analysed at biochemical level for nutrients contents and free radical scavenging activities. The results have shown significant free radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity and nutritional potential of the selected 6 wild edible plants used by the local communities of Eastern Himalayan Region of India.

Keywords: East Himalaya, local community, wild edible plants, nutrition, food security

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Authors: Z. Mmango, U. Nwodo, L. V. Mabinya, A. I. Okoh

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Cellulose and hemicellulose account for a large portion of the world‘s plant biomass. In nature, these polysaccharides are intertwined forming complex materials that requires multiple and expensive treatment processes to free up the raw materials trapped in the matrix. Enzymatic degradation remains as the preferred technique as it is inexpensive and eco-friendly. However, the insufficiencies of enzyme battery systems in the degradation of lignocellulosic complex motivate the search for effective degrading enzymes from bacterial isolates from uncommon environment. The study aimed at the evaluation of actinomycetes isolated from saw dust samples collected from wood factory under bed. Cellulase and xylanase production was screened through organism culture on carboxyl methyl cellulose agar and Birchwood xylan. Halo zone indicating lignocellose utilization was shown by an isolate identified through 16S rRNA gene as Micrococcus luteus. The optimum condition for the production of cellulase and xylanase were incubation temperature of 25 °C, fermentation medium pH 5 and 10, agitation speed of 50 and 200 (rpm) and fermentation incubation time of 96 and 84 (h) respectively. The high cellulose and xylanase activity obtained from this isolate portends industrial relevance.

Keywords: carboxyl methyl cellulose, birchwood xylan, optimization, cellulase, xylanase, micrococcus, DNS method

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Authors: Izabela Kapsa

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Civic participation is an important aspect of democracy. The contemporary model of democracy is based on citizens' participation in political decision-making (deliberative democracy, participatory democracy). This participation takes many forms of activities like display of slogans and symbols, voting, social consultations, political demonstrations, membership in political parties or organizing civil disobedience. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 are characterized by great social, economic and political diversity. Civil society is also part of the process of democratization. Civil society, funded by the rule of law, civil rights, such as freedom of speech and association and private ownership, was to play a central role in the development of liberal democracy. Among the many interpretations of concepts, defining the concept of contemporary democracy, one can assume that the terms civil society and democracy, although different in meaning, nowadays overlap. In the post-communist countries, the process of shaping and maturing societies took place in the context of a struggle with a state governed by undemocratic power. State fraud or repudiation of the institution is a representative state, which in the past was the only way to manifest and defend its identity, but after the breakthrough became one of the main obstacles to the development of civil society. In Central and Eastern Europe, there are many obstacles to the development of civil society, for example, the elimination of economic poverty, the implementation of educational campaigns, consciousness-related obstacles, the formation of social capital and the deficit of social activity. Obviously, civil society does not only entail an electoral turnout but a broader participation in the decision-making process, which is impossible without direct and participative democratic institutions. This article considers such broad forms of civic participation and their characteristics in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper is attempts to analyze the functioning of electronic forms of civic participation in Central and Eastern European states. This is not accompanied by a referendum or a referendum initiative, and other forms of political participation, such as public consultations, participative budgets, or e-Government. However, this paper will broadly present electronic administration tools, the application of which results from both legal regulations and increasingly common practice in state and city management. In the comparative analysis, the experiences of post-communist bloc countries will be summed up to indicate the challenges and possible goals for further development of this form of citizen participation in the political process. The author argues that for to function efficiently and effectively, states need to involve their citizens in the political decision-making process, especially with the use of electronic tools.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, e-participation, e-government, post-communism

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Authors: Natasha Lalla

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The impact of free trade on growth has been highly debated and studies have generated varying results. Since the 1970s the Caribbean has engaged in asymmetrical trade with some European states characterized by the Lomé Conventions (1975-1999). These agreements allowed for Caribbean products such as sugar and banana to enter some European countries duty-free and above market prices. With the onset of the World Trade Organization by the mid-1990s, the EU’s banana trade regime was considered illegitimate. Lomé was replaced by the Cotonou agreement (2000-2007), in order to phase out preferences and ensure that the Caribbean trade arrangements were consistent with the international economic environment of trade liberalization. This agreement facilitated signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement in 2008 by both trade blocs whereby Caribbean states must implement freer trade by 2033. The current study is an exploration of how the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States, the smallest, economically and ecologically vulnerable states of the Caribbean have restructured their trade policies towards the end of preferences and what has been the economic developmental impact of this. This is done by analyzing key reports to understand how these states restructured policies towards freer trade. Secondly, to determine the impact of this, data collected for specific economic indicators were analyzed in a fixed effects panel data framework for the period 1979-2016 on six states of the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States. The study, therefore, found that freer trade has resulted in negative growth in these states.

Keywords: free trade, growth, OECS, small island developing states

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Authors: Mohammad A. Alolayan, John S. Evans, James K. Hammitt

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The value of statistical life has been estimated for a middle eastern country with high economical subsidization system. In this study, in-person interviews were conducted on a stratified random sample to estimate the value of mortality risk. Double-bounded dichotomous choice questions followed by open-ended question were used in the interview to investigate the willingness to pay of the respondent for mortality risk reduction. High willingness to pay was found to be associated with high income and education. Also, females were found to have lower willingness to pay than males. The estimated value of statistical life is larger than the ones estimated for western countries where taxation system exists. This estimate provides a baseline for monetizing the health benefits for proposed policy or program to the decision makers in an eastern country. Also, the value of statistical life for a country in the region can be extrapolated from this this estimate by using the benefit transfer method.

Keywords: mortality, risk, VSL, willingness-to-pay

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Authors: Rao Singh Priyanka, Jayangondaperumal R.

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The Himalayan active fault has the potential to generate great earthquakes in the future, posing a biggest existential threat to humans in the Himalayan and adjacent region. Quantitative evaluation of accumulated and released interseismic strain is crucial to assess the magnitude and spatio-temporal variability of future great earthquakes along the Himalayan arc. To mitigate the destruction and hazards associated with such earthquakes, it is important to understand their recurrence cycle. The eastern Himalayan and Indo-Burman plate boundary systems offers an oblique convergence across two orthogonal plate boundaries, resulting in a zone of distributed deformation both within and away from the plate boundary and clockwise rotation of fault-bounded blocks. This seismically active region has poorly documented historical archive of the past large earthquakes. Thus, paleoseismologicalstudies confirm the surface rupture evidences of the great continental earthquakes (Mw ≥ 8) along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), which along with the Geodetic studies, collectively provide the crucial information to understand and assess the seismic potential. These investigations reveal the rupture of 3/4th of the HFT during great events since medieval time but with debatable opinions for the timing of events due to unclear evidences, ignorance of transverse segment boundaries, and lack of detail studies. Recent paleoseismological investigations in the eastern Himalaya and Mishmi ranges confirms the primary surface ruptures of the 1950 C.E. great earthquake (M>8). However, a seismic gap exists between the 1714 C.E. and 1950 C.E. Assam earthquakes that did not slip since 1697 C.E. event. Unlike the latest large blind 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Mw 7.8), the 1950 C.E. event is not triggered by a large event of 1947 C.E. that occurred near the western edge of the great upper Assam event. Moreover, the western segment of the eastern Himalayadid not witness any surface breaking earthquake along the HFT for over the past 300 yr. The frontal fault excavations reveal that during the 1950 earthquake, ~3.1-m-high scarp along the HFT was formed due to the co-seismic slip of 5.5 ± 0.7 m at Pasighat in the Eastern Himalaya and a 10-m-high-scarp at a Kamlang Nagar along the Mishmi Thrust in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis is an outcome of a dip-slip displacement of 24.6 ± 4.6 m along a 25 ± 5°E dipping fault. This event has ruptured along the two orthogonal fault systems in the form of oblique thrust fault mechanism. Approx. 130 km west of Pasighat site, the Himebasti village has witnessed two earthquakes, the historical 1697 Sadiya earthquake, and the 1950 event, with a cumulative dip-slip displacement of 15.32 ± 4.69 m. At Niglok site, Arunachal Pradesh, a cumulative slip of ~12.82 m during at least three events since pre 19585 B.P. has produced ~6.2-m high scarp while the youngest scarp of ~2.4-m height has been produced during 1697 C.E. The site preserves two deformational events along the eastern HFT, providing an idea of last serial ruptures at an interval of ~850 yearswhile the successive surface rupturing earthquakes lacks in the Mishmi Range to estimate the recurrence cycle.

Keywords: paleoseismology, surface rupture, recurrence interval, Eastern Himalaya

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Authors: Charmaine Devinee Pillay

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Employees in both public and private sectors are expected to contribute significantly to the growth and development of the organization that employs them. Good working conditions are directly linked to the optimum output emanating from the workforce’s excellent performance. Insecurity, instability and lack of benefits negatively impact on the employees’ commitment to their job. This is a qualitative case study that comprised 40 “Contract Employees” (Academic and Supporting staff) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Questionnaire, as instrument of data collection, was used to obtain qualitative data. Data collected were categorized in themes and sub-themes for analyses and discussion. Findings showed that “contract Employees” are highly demoralized due to job insecurity and non-benefits, among other factors, which directly affect their overall output in discharging their duties. The case study at Walter Sisulu University typifies the generalized challenges faced by workers on contract basis in South Africa. It is therefore, recommended that employers hire their workforce on permanent basis or, where “Contract Employment “is inevitable, similar conditions that go with permanent employment should be incorporated in the contract terms of “Contract Employees”. This serves as impetus for optimum performance.

Keywords: contract employee, insecurity, instability, risk factors

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Authors: S. O. Bamigboye, P. M. Tshisikhawe, P. J. Taylor

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Cycads are the most threatened plant species in the world. In South Africa over 70% of cycads are threatened with extinction with 60% of them as a result of bark harvest of these highly endangered species for medicinal purposes. 3 cycads species in South Africa have gone extinct due to bark harvest for medicinal purpose. This practice keeps increasing biodiversity loss within the nation and this has generated concern for conservationists on different way to discover how people go about this practices and how it can be discouraged. Studies have revealed this practice to be common practice in provinces like Kwazulu natal, Eastern cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, but studies in the past have not really focused on cycads bark harvest in Limpopo province. In this study we use the indigenous knowledge to discover a particular location within the Soutpansberg Montane (a major biodiversity hotspot in Limpopo Province in South Africa) in Vhembe district in Limpopo province not yet conserved where we have a highly disturbed population of cycads. Several individuals of cycads species have been highly damaged due to bark harvest in this location. We are about proposing that such areas needs attention for conservation to prevent the loss of these species endemic to this particular location. Our study hereby reveals that cycads bark harvest which is a major threat to African cycads is also a common practice in Limpopo Province in South Africa. Rigorous conservation action is required to discourage this practice in order to prevent further biodiversity loss in this region.

Keywords: bark harvest, Cycads, conservation, extinction, Limpopo

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Authors: Mohamed F. Sadek, Safaa M. Hassan, Safwat S. Gabr

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Several alteration zones hosting gold mineralization are wide spreading in the South Eastern Desert of Egypt where gold has been mined from many localities since the time of the Pharaohs. The Sukkari is the only mine currently producing gold in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more detailed studies on these locations using modern exploratory methods. The remote sensing plays an important role in lithological mapping and detection of associated hydrothermal mineralization particularly the exploration of gold mineralization. This study is focused on three localities in South Eastern Desert of Egypt, namely Beida, Defiet and Hoteib-Eiqat aiming to detect the gold-bearing hydrothermal alteration zones using the integrated data of remote sensing, field study and mineralogical investigation. Generally, these areas are dominated by Precambrian basement rocks including metamorphic and magmatic assemblages. They comprise ophiolitic serpentinite-talc carbonate, island-arc metavolcanics which were intruded by syn to late orogenic mafic and felsic intrusions mainly gabbro, granodiorite and monzogranite. The processed data of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection (ASTER) and Landsat-8 images are used in the present study to map the gold bearing-hydrothermal alteration zones. Band rationing and principal component analysis techniques are used to discriminate the different lithologic units exposed in the studied three areas. Field study and mineralogical investigation have been used to verify the remote sensing data. This study concluded that, the integrated remote sensing data with geological, field and mineralogical investigations are very effective in lithological discrimination, detailed geological mapping and detection of the gold-bearing hydrothermal alteration zones. More detailed exploration for gold mineralization with the help of remote sensing techniques is recommended to evaluate its potentiality in the study areas.

Keywords: pan-african, Egypt, landsat-8; ASTER, gold, alteration zones

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Authors: Mandlenkosi Richard Mphatheni

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The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996 section 28(1) (d)) states, ‘Every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse, and degradation’. Qualitative research studied perceptions of the selected sample. Objectives of the research were to determine factors that influence perpetrators of sexual violence to target children, the risk factors of child sexual abuse, the effects of child sexual abuse on the development of the child, and the community prevention measures to minimize the risks of child sexual abuse. The research aimed to understand perspective and experiences of the Ngangelizwe community members on the problem of sexual violence against children and the perpetrator’s perceived motive for sexually abusing children. Convenience non-probability sampling technique was adopted to select 20 participants within the Ngangelizwe Township at Mthatha. Thematic analyses were used to analyse data. It was found that sexual abuse of children affects severely child and parents, while the community reported to be trivially affected by the sexual abuse of a child. The research revealed ignorance of some forms of sexual violence, as the commonly known form of sexual violence was rape. Therefore, ignorance of community members regarding various forms of sexual abuse means that such acts are either ignored, tolerated, or even regarded as acceptable. It thus means that community members cannot reject any actions or behaviour if they themselves are ignorant of what constitutes sexual violence. This study recommends that communities should be educated about different sexual offenses.

Keywords: child sexual abuse, community, childhood attachment, adult attachment

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Authors: Thanduxolo Nomngcoyiya, Simon M. Kang’ethe

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The aim of this article is to explore whether a relationship exists between traditional male circumcision mishaps and level of education in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, exemplified by an empirical case study. The study used qualitative paradigm; was exploratory in nature and used case study design that was descriptive and exploratory; and entailed interviewing twenty-eight (28) research participants comprising of eleven (11) newly initiated men and their families on one-on-one in-depth interviews, twelve (12) traditional nurses and community members in focus group discussions; and five (5) society key informants on key informant method. An interview guide served as a data collection instrument for focus group discussions, key informant method and in-depth interviews with unstructured open-ended questions. Findings indicated an array of traditional male circumcision (TMC) gaps, some of which were indicative of a relationship between the mishaps and level of education: the phenomenon of schooling became secondary in newly initiated men’s lives; TMC mishaps became a drawback towards the newly initiated men’s education progression; the newly initiated men are sacrificed at the altar of culture, and TMC mishaps ushered in socioeconomic setback to the newly initiated men. The study suggested that: TMC be developmental; TMC as a cultural endeavor be educational and human rights friendly; and the need to identify and integrate all other players with diverse specialties.

Keywords: culture, education for all, EFA, millennium development goals, traditional male circumcision

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Authors: Zhen Li, Chang Liu, Ping Zhang

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These Glaciers are thought of as natural water reservoirs and are of vital importance to hydrological models and industrial production, and glacial changes act as significant indicators of climate change. The glacier snowline can be used as an indicator of the equilibrium line, which may be a key parameter to study the effect of climate change on glaciers. Using Google Earth Engine, we select optical satellite imageries and implement the Otsu thresholding method on a near-infrared band to detect snowline altitudes (SLAs) of 26 glaciers in three regions of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Three different study regions in the eastern Tibetan Plateau have different climate regimes, which are Sepu Kangri (SK, maritime glacier), Bu’Gyai Kangri (BK, continental glacier) and west of Qiajajima (WQ, continental glacier), along a latitudinal transect from south to north. We analyzed the effects of climatic factors on the SLA changes from 1995 to 2016. SLAs are fluctuating upward, and the rising values are 100 m, 60 m, and 34 m from south to north during the 22 years. We also observed that the climatic factor that affects the variability of SLA gradually changes from precipitation to temperature from south to north. The northern continental glaciers are mainly affected by temperature, and the southern maritime glaciers affected by precipitation. Owing to the influence of primary climatic factors, continental glaciers are found to have higher SLAs on the south slope, while maritime glaciers have higher SLAs on the north slope.

Keywords: climate change, glacier, snowline altitude, tibetan plateau

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Authors: Tiisetso Mpai, Sanjay K. Jaiswal, Felix D. Dakora

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The South African Cape fynbos biome is a global biodiversity hotspot. This biome contains a diversity of endemic shrub legumes, including Polhillia, Wiborgia, and Wiborgiella species, which are important for ecotourism as well as for improving soil fertility status. This is due to their proven N₂-fixing abilities when in association with compatible soil bacteria. In fact, Polhillia, Wiborgia, and Wiborgiella species have been reported to derive over 61% of their needed nitrogen through biological nitrogen fixation and to exhibit acid and alkaline phosphatase activity in their rhizospheres. Thus, their interactions with soil microbes may explain their survival mechanisms under the continued summer droughts and acidic, nutrient-poor soils in this region. However, information regarding their rhizosphere microbiome is still unavailable, yet it is important for Fynbos biodiversity management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the microbial community structures associated with rhizosphere soils of Polhillia pallens, Polhillia brevicalyx, Wiborgia obcordata, Wiborgia sericea, and Wiborgiella sessilifolia growing at different locations of the South African Cape fynbos, during the wet and dry seasons. The hypothesis is that the microbial communities in these legume rhizospheres are the same type and are not affected by the growing season due to the restricted habitat of these wild fynbos legumes. To obtain the results, DNA was extracted from 0.5 g of each rhizosphere soil using PowerSoil™ DNA Isolation Kit, and sequences were obtained using the 16S rDNA Miseq Illumina technology. The results showed that in both seasons, bacteria were the most abundant microbial taxa in the rhizosphere soils of all five legume species, with Actinobacteria showing the highest number of sequences (about 30%). However, over 19.91% of the inhabitants in all five legume rhizospheres were unclassified. In terms of genera, Mycobacterium and Conexibacter were common in rhizosphere soils of all legumes in both seasons except for W. obcordata soils sampled during the dry season, which had Dehalogenimonas as the major inhabitant (6.08%). In conclusion, plant species and season were found to be the main drivers of microbial community structure in Cape fynbos, with the wet season being more dominant in shaping microbial diversity relative to the dry season. Wiborgia obcordata had a greater influence on microbial community structure than the other four legume species.

Keywords: 16S rDNA, Cape fynbos, endemic legumes, microbiome, rhizosphere

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Authors: M. Bounechada, M. Fenni, S. Bouharati, S. E. Doumandji

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The study was taken in Setif region (36° 11' 29 N and 5° 24' 34 E) located at the north-eastern of Algeria. This paper recorded and discusses zoogeography and host plant relationships of Setifian species Alticinae subfamily. A total of 50 species belonging to Alticinae subfamily of Chrysomelidae which is the economically important familty, were recorded from differentes localities of Setif region. They are included in 10 genera. Genera Longitarsus Berthold, 1827 is less species-rich than the other Alticinae genera captured. It represens about 38% of the all species collected. Cruciferae and Compositae were the mostly prefered host plant families representing Alticinae species. For each species we mentioned the collecting sites, geographical distribution and the host plants.

Keywords: Algeria, Alticinae, Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera, distribution, host plants, species composition, Setif

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Authors: Nanine Fouche

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The Cape Flats is a low-lying sand-covered expanse of approximately 460 square kilometres, situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town in the Western Cape of South Africa. The aeolian sands masking this area are often loose and compressible in the upper 1m to 1.5m of the surface, and there is a general exceedance of the maximum allowable settlement in these sands. The settlement of shallow foundations on Cape Flats sands is commonly predicted using the results of in-situ tests such as the SPT or DPSH due to the difficulty of retrieving undisturbed samples for laboratory testing. Varying degrees of accuracy and reliability are associated with these methods. More recently, shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles obtained from seismic testing, such as continuous surface wave tests (CSW), are being used for settlement prediction. Such predictions have the advantage of considering non-linear stress-strain behaviour of soil and the degradation of stiffness with increasing strain. CSW tests are rarely executed in the Cape Flats, whereas SPT’s are commonly performed. For this reason, and to facilitate better settlement predictions in Cape Flats sand, equations representing shear wave velocity (Vs) as a function of SPT blow count (N60) and vertical effective stress (v’) were generated by statistical regression of site investigation data. To reveal the most appropriate method of overburden correction, analyses were performed with a separate overburden term (Pa/σ’v) as well as using stress corrected shear wave velocity and SPT blow counts (correcting Vs. and N60 to Vs1and (N1)60respectively). Shear wave velocity profiles and SPT blow count data from three sites masked by Cape Flats sands were utilised to generate 80 Vs-SPT N data pairs for analysis. Investigated terrains included sites in the suburbs of Athlone, Muizenburg, and Atlantis, all underlain by windblown deposits comprising fine and medium sand with varying fines contents. Elastic settlement analysis was also undertaken for the Cape Flats sands, using a non-linear stepwise method based on small-strain stiffness estimates, which was obtained from the best Vs-N60 model and compared to settlement estimates using the general elastic solution with stiffness profiles determined using Stroud’s (1989) and Webb’s (1969) SPT N60-E transformation models. Stroud’s method considers strain level indirectly whereasWebb’smethod does not take account of the variation in elastic modulus with strain. The expression of Vs. in terms of N60 and Pa/σv’ derived from the Atlantis data set revealed the best fit with R2 = 0.83 and a standard error of 83.5m/s. Less accurate Vs-SPT N relations associated with the combined data set is presumably the result of inversion routines used in the analysis of the CSW results showcasing significant variation in relative density and stiffness with depth. The regression analyses revealed that the inclusion of a separate overburden term in the regression of Vs and N60, produces improved fits, as opposed to the stress corrected equations in which the R2 of the regression is notably lower. It is the correction of Vs and N60 to Vs1 and (N1)60 with empirical constants ‘n’ and ‘m’ prior to regression, that introduces bias with respect to overburden pressure. When comparing settlement prediction methods, both Stroud’s method (considering strain level indirectly) and the small strain stiffness method predict higher stiffnesses for medium dense and dense profiles than Webb’s method, which takes no account of strain level in the determination of soil stiffness. Webb’s method appears to be suitable for loose sands only. The Versak software appears to underestimate differences in settlement between square and strip footings of similar width. In conclusion, settlement analysis using small-strain stiffness data from the proposed Vs-N60 model for Cape Flats sands provides a way to take account of the non-linear stress-strain behaviour of the sands when calculating settlement.

Keywords: sands, settlement prediction, continuous surface wave test, small-strain stiffness, shear wave velocity, penetration resistance

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Authors: Mapule Maema

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The paper aims to highlight the role that community activism has played in promoting social justice around housing issues in the Western Cape. The Western Cape is one of the largest spatially segregated provinces in South Africa which continues to exhibit grave inequalities between cities, townships and farms. These inequalities cut across intersectional issues such as, race, class, gender, and politics. The main challenges facing marginalized communities in the Western Cape include access to housing, land and basic services. This is not peculiar to only the Western Cape, the entire country is facing similar challenges however the Western Cape is seen as a fasted urbanizing province in the country due to tourism. Various social movements have been formed across the country to counter these challenges, however, this paper focuses on the resilience communities have fostered despite the myriad housing and spatial crisis they are faced with. The paper focuses on the Legal Resource’s Centre’s clients from an informal settlement called Imizamo Yethu based in Hout Bay Valley area. The 18 hectare settlement houses approximately 33600 people. On the 21st July 2017, Hout Bay experienced violent protests following an eviction order passed by the City of Cape Town. The protest was characterized by tensions within the community regarding the super-blocking initiative which aims to establish roads in informal settlements to ensure basic services. Residents against the process argued that there were no proper consultations done to educate them on what this process entailed. Public participation is one of the objectives the municipalities aim to promote however it remains a great challenge. In order to highlight the experiences of the LRC clients in relation to what motivated their involvement in the movement, how it felt their participation, and aspirations, the paper will employ qualitative research methods. Qualitative research methods enable the researcher to get a deeper and nuanced understanding of the social world in the eyes of those who experienced it. It is a flexible methodology that enables one to also understand social processes and the significance they generate. Data will be collected through the use of the World Cafe as a focus group method. The World Café is a simple, effective and flexible format for hosting group dialogue. The steps taken when setting up a World Café includes the following: setting the context (why you are bringing people together and what you want to achieve), create hospitality space (make participants feel at home and free to discuss issues), explore questions that matter, connect diverse perspectives (the opportunity to actively contribute your thinking), listen together for patterns and insights, share collective discoveries and learnings. Secondary data will be used to augment the data collected. Stories of impact will be drawn from the exercises. This paper will contribute to the discourse of sustainable housing and urban development and the research outputs will be disseminated to the public for learning.

Keywords: community activism, influence, social justice, development

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Authors: Ece Çelikçapa Özinan

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It is possible to see the effects of both approaches in the acting method of Yoshi Oida, who has experience in Eastern and Western theater understandings. Integrating the two understandings with cultural differences in theater was mostly preferred in order to eliminate the deadlocks of the Western understanding. Yoshi Oida wanted to make the acting concepts acquired in traditional Japanese theater available to Western actors as well. The usefulness of these concepts, which offer advice for the actor's mind control and focus, is debatable. The concepts that have been experienced for many years in the training of actors in traditional Japanese theater should perhaps go through an education process with the same discipline in order to be useful for a Western actor. Although the importance of intercultural exchange of these educational teachings is known, it should be considered that it can cause the concepts to be emptied. In this study, Yoshi Oida's concepts related to the control of the actor's mind, which he used in his acting method, will be explained, examples of his exercises will be presented and their competencies will be discussed.

Keywords: Yoshi Oida, acting, mind, Eastern, Western

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Authors: Banan Aljumaiah

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In recent years, the construction industry has leveraged the information revolution, which makes it possible to view the entire construction process of new buildings before they are built with the advent of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Although BIM is an integration of the building model with the data and documents about the building, however, its implementation is limited to individual buildings missing the large picture of the city infrastructure. This limitation of BIM led to the birth of City Information Modelling. Three years ago, Eastern Province Municipality (EPM) in Saudi Arabia mandated that all major projects be delivered with collaborative 3D BIM. After three years of implementation, EPM started to implement City Information Modelling (CIM) as a part of the Smart City Plan to link infrastructure and public services and modelling how people move around and interact with the city. This paper demonstrates a local case study of BIM implementation in EPM and its future as a part of project management automation; the paper also highlights the ambitious plan of EPM to transform CIM towards building smart cities.

Keywords: BIM, BIM to CIM

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Authors: Peter O. Osifo, Hein W. J. P. Neomagus

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In this study, a predicted pH model was used to determine adsorption equilibrium properties of copper, lead, zinc and cadmium. Chitosan was prepared from the exoskeleton of Cape rock-lobsters, collected from the surroundings of Cape Town, South Africa. The beads were cross-linked with gluteraldehyde to restore its chemical stability in acid media. The chitosan beads were characterized; the beads water contents and pKa varied in the range of 90-96% and 4.3-6.0 respectively and the degree of crosslinking for the beads was 18%. A pH-model, which described the reversibility of the metal adsorbed onto the beads, was used to predict the equilibrium properties of copper, lead, zinc and cadmium adsorption onto the cross-linked beads. The model accounts for the effect of pH and the important model parameters; the equilibrium adsorption constant (Kads) and to a lesser extent the adsorbent adsorption capacity (qmax). The adsorption equilibrium constant for copper, lead, zinc and cadmium were found to be 2.58×10-3, 2.22×0-3, 9.55×0-3, and 4.79×0-3, respectively. The adsorbent maximum capacity was determined to be 4.2 mmol/g.

Keywords: chitosan beads, adsorption, heavy metals, waste water

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Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege, Azeez Adeboye, Akinwumi Odeyemi

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The basic model usually used in disease mapping, is the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model and which combines the spatially structured and spatially unstructured priors as random effects. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model is a disease mapping method that is commonly used for smoothening the relative risk of any disease as used in the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model. This model (CAR), which is also usually assigned as a prior to one of the spatial random effects in the BYM model, successfully uses information from adjacent sites to improve estimates for individual sites. To our knowledge, there are some unrealistic or counter-intuitive consequences on the posterior covariance matrix of the CAR prior for the spatial random effects. In the conventional BYM (Besag, York and Mollie) model, the spatially structured and the unstructured random components cannot be seen independently, and which challenges the prior definitions for the hyperparameters of the two random effects. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to construct and utilize an extended Bayesian spatial CAR model for studying tuberculosis patterns in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and then compare for flexibility with some existing CAR models. The results of the study revealed the flexibility and robustness of this alternative extended CAR to the commonly used CAR models by comparison, using the deviance information criteria. The extended Bayesian spatial CAR model is proved to be a useful and robust tool for disease modeling and as a prior for the structured spatial random effects because of the inclusion of an extra hyperparameter.

Keywords: Besag2, CAR models, disease mapping, INLA, spatial models

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