Book Chapters

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Management of autotrophic mass cultures of micro-algae
(1987) Toerien, DF; Grobbelaar, JU; Walmsley, RD
Interest in the mass cultivation of micro-algae as feed and foodstuff has existed since the turn of the century (Robinson and Toerien, 1962). Experiments using algae in photosynthetic research (Warburg, 1919) also led to an appreciation of the rapidity of growth of certain micro-algae.
Breaking alibis through cell phone mapping
(Police Executive Research Forum, 2000) Schmitz, P; Cooper, Antony K; Davidson, A; Rossouw, K
The success of crime mapping, as described in this chapter, can be measured by the fact that the state advocate who prosecuted the case gave a seminal on the map to his colleagues. The prosecutor's seminar demonstrated that the use of the map in support of the prosecution was a powerful and persuasive device. Subsequently, another prosecutor has contacted CSIR to map data for a case involving two murders in which cell phones were also used during the commission of the crimes.
Language and technology literacy barriers to accessing government services
(Springer, 2003) Barnard, E; Cloete, L; Patel, Hina M
The paper presents research aimed at overcoming barriers to citizens’ ability to access electronic government services. Our concern is specifically ‘non-connectivity’ barriers to electronic service delivery including cultural background, language, literacy and level of technology experience. These issues are investigated and solutions researched in a developing world context. The project on which the paper is based aims to develop a service delivery framework and technology where service delivery is personalised to citizen’s unique circumstances taking into account the means by which they will have access to government services and individual characteristics such as language preference. In order to develop appropriate technological interventions, a number of field experiments are done to gain an improved understanding of the extent to which citizens’ exposure to technology and home language affect their ability to access electronic services. These experiments will influence technology development on the project that will be incorporated in a technology demonstrator.
Biodiversity
(2006) Scholes, RJ; Kuper, W; Biggs, R
Biodiversity offers multiple opportunities for development and improving human well-being. It is the basis for essential environmental services upon which life on Earth depends. Thus, its conservation and sustainable use are of critical importance. The opportunities and challenges associated with biodiversity typically apply over large geographical extents, although one or two issues may be more important at any given location. To avoid repetition, particular issues are highlighted in the sub-regional sections, not because opportunities and challenges are restricted to those areas, but because are best illustrated there. Deforestation is discussed under Central Africa, while relations between protected areas and adjacent populations are dealt with under Eastern Africa. Riparian biodiversity is discussed in Northern Africa, climate change and invasive alien species (IAS) in Southern Africa, desertification in Western Africa, and endemism in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) islands. Habitat degradation and resource overexploitation are discussed in this regional synthesis, because are overwhelmingly important as drivers of biodiversity loss throughout Africa.
Mobilising knowledge for ecosystem assessments
(2006) Fabricius, C; Scholes, RJ; Cundill, G
The Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (SAfMA, http://www.maweb.org) was undertaken at a variety of spatial scales, from the regional (with sub-Saharan Africa as the assessment area) to the local (at the scale of a village, single protected area, or micro watershed). Each of these scales had its own stakeholders and thus its own key topics of concern. These in turn defined the information needs for the assessment at that scale. The authors found that as the scale of assessment moved from regional to local, the balance of information availability shifted from formal, documented data, typically regarded as being in the “scientific domain,” toward informal, tacit information contained in the life experience of local residents and in folklore transmitted by oral tradition, or perhaps documented but not in accordance with conventional scientific standards. According to the authors the distinction between “formal” and “informal” knowledge is not as absolute as is often thought. They point out that both use broad principles, similar rules and validation, although the procedures may differ. Elements of both sorts of knowledge exist at all scales, although informal knowledge is generally more site specific and restricted by design and circumstances than scientific knowledge is.
Health and Water
(2006) Genthe, Bettina; Steyn, Maronel
The Health sector should play an integral part to accomplish Integrate Water Resource Management (IWRM). The overarching aim of IWRM is sustainability. Health of people and health of the environment is an outcome of IWRM through sustainability. It is clear that IWRM cannot be effectively accomplished if all sectors and stakeholders aren’t involved in and throughout the whole process. The Health sector should develop a framework of integration and co-operation with the other stakeholders and should plan towards this process. The process of IWRM should feature as part of their priority list of duties, with time and finances allocated for meetings and collaboration. The Health Sector should understand the importance of IWRM and specifically the role they play in the whole process. They should advocate the process of IWRM and involve civil society by means of education campaigns, media etc. People should be made aware of the role they play in establishing the process. This chapter included a summary of the challenges facing the health sector for effectively supporting IWRM. It is evident that many challenges exist to ensure that health is adequately addressed to contribute towards the goals of integrated water resource management.
Dryland systems
(2006) Wessels, Konrad J
This chapter describes the current condition of dryland systems with respect to the services they provide and the drivers that determine trends in their provision. Within the context of the mounting global concern caused by land degradation in drylands (defined as desertification in the text of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), the chapter assesses deserti- fication as a persistent reduction in the services provided by dryland ecosystems, leading to unsustainable use of the drylands and their impaired development. The chapter also explores options for the sustainable use of drylands and points to human and societal responses that have succeeded or failed. ‘‘Desertification’’ means land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Land degradation means reduction of or loss in the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rain-fed cropland, irrigated cropland, range, pasture, forest, or woodlands resulting from land uses or from processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns (UNCCD 1992). Though this definition excludes the hyper-arid drylands, this chapter explores land degradation in all global drylands,including the hyper-arid areas.
Beneath the surface of conscious patterns: using narrative to characterise the culture of innovation at a leading R&D organisation
(2006-02) Maree, GA; Roux, DJ; Marais, Mario A
The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was founded in 1945 and knowledge has always been a core asset of the organisation and is a direct determinant of the organisation’s relevance. Strategic management of innovation is seen as both a social and a key business process for converting knowledge into value. Current reality is projects that typically entail a high degree of new knowledge generation as opposed to repackaging of existing knowledge. Human skills and knowledge are the primary limiting resource for an R&D organisation. Most work is multi-disciplinary in nature and project teams are assembled by drawing experts from a number of organisations. The challenge is to effectively leverage human skills or knowledge towards innovation excellence and to achieve this it is necessary to understand the prevailing culture associated with innovation. Narrative techniques are used to uncover behaviours, themes and archetypes beyond the everyday conscious patterns of recognition. An important area of impact is the change process currently underway at the CSIR. Here, the aim is to shift the CSIR back to a stronger R&D basis in line with the organisation’s mandate. Aspects include processes to understand the current underlying organisation values and culture and narrative can add value to these complexities. Outcomes from this exercise support the change process at the CSIR. The main objectives are to investigate or explore the usefulness of narrative techniques for making sense of complex social processes and; gain insights into the cultural issues surrounding innovation.
Linking spatial planning, water resources management and biodiversity protection: a case study for the systematic conservation of rivers in South Africa
(2006-03) Maree, GA; Roux, DJ; Nel, J
Results from the National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment (NSBA) have highlighted the poor condition of South Africa's main rivers for conservation of biodiversity and that conservation efforts in South Africa have centred primarily on terrestrial systems. An integrated perspective (including linkages with wetlands and estuaries) is needed if biodiversity strategies and plans are to be successful. Ultimately, the conservation of freshwater biodiversity resources in South Africa will require an integrated approach to land and water management. This would require implementing agencies to align policy and strategies.
Low Oxygen Water (LOW) variability in the Benguela system: key processes and forcing scales relevant to forecasting
(Elsevier B.V, 2006-09) Monteiro, Pedro MS; Van der Plas, AK
LOW variability in the Benguela is governed by varying scales of remote and local forcing linked to both Equatorial and Cape Basin systems. The nature of these nonlinear interactions is not clearly understood because scales are large and their elucidation through observational programmes alone is not cost effective. Models are required to characterise the complexity of the most important forcing and response scales in both time and space. It will be necessary to approach this as a multi-phase process, beginning with a diagnostic emphasis which evolves to a forecasting system through hindcasting focussed specifically on large scale events of the past. It is clear that not all the variability scales are amenable to forecasting either because the driving process scales are too uncertain or because they are of little management of policy interest. Two scales were defined as being of interest to both these criteria: Short term (7 day) scale related to forecasting conditions leading to the walkout or mortality of rock lobster in the southern Benguela; Medium term (2 month) forecasting of the intensification of the remote forcing of ETSA derived LOW which has a bearing on the Namibian hake fishery These two scales are discussed in detail in the companion Chapter 13.
Monitoring land degradation with long-term satellite data in South Africa.
(Group on Earth Observations, 2007) Wessels, Konrad J; Prince, S
Desertification is defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as ‘land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas (dry-lands) resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.’ Degradation includes diverse processes from changes in plant species composition to soil erosion that result in reduced biological or economic productivity of the land. Land degradation affects food security, national economic development and natural resource conservation strategies. Desertification refers specifically to degradation in dry-lands and it is widely considered to be one of the most destructive environmental processes of our time affecting an estimated 250 million people.
Ergonomics
(Mine Health and Safety Council, 2007) Schutte, PC; James, JP
Ergonomic surveys are conducted to identify ergonomics-related risk factors in a workplace. The surveys include elementary hazard identification, risk assessment and identification of areas where specialist ergonomics advice is required. This Chapter provides the reader with basic tools in the form of checklists to identify ergonomics related risk factors in a workplace. In the present context an ergonomics programme is regarded as a systematic approach to anticipating, identifying, analysing and controlling ergonomics-related hazards. The hazard identification process provides the data needed to identify, control, and prevent work-related injuries and illnesses.
Advanced fire information system
(Group on Earth Observations, 2007) Frost, PE; Scholes, RJ
The South African Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) is the first near real-time satellite-based fire monitoring system in Africa. It was originally developed for, and funded by, the electrical power utility Eskom, to reduce the impact of wild fires on regional electricity supply.1 Fires underneath the 28,000 km of power lines can cause flashovers which severely affect electricity supply. The loss of life and destruction of property caused every year by wildfires further emphasised the need to develop an operational, early warning fire information system that could alert the disaster management, fire-fighting, farming and forestry communities on the location and trajectory of blazes, as well as capturing information on the frequency and distribution of fires for researchers.
Disputes and conflicts over water in Africa
(Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd, 2007) Ashton, PJ
Recent years have been marked by a growing awareness that the world’s freshwater supplies represent a scarce and critically important resource that is also extremely vulnerable to human activities (Biswas 1993; Delli Priscoli 1998). Indeed, since water cannot be substituted, neither biological diversity nor social and economic development can be sustained in its absence. Another important aspect to emerge from the growing public awareness of the importance of water is the realization that water has both productive and destructive properties. Typically, adequate supplies of good quality water enable communities and countries to attain and sustain all of their social and economic development aspirations (Falkenmark 1989; Biswas 1993). In this process, water also acts as an important agent for co-operation and benefit sharing between communities and countries (Turton 2002). Against a background formed by the availability and distribution of water and the likely trajectories of change in demand for water across the African continent, this paper briefly discusses the types of situations where disputes or conflicts have occurred over access to water. Specific consideration is given to the need for African countries to develop new collaborative policies and strategies that will allow them jointly to attain their development goals while simultaneously avoiding the looming potential for conflict over water resources.
Land
(Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 2007-01) Audouin, Michelle A
Unsustainable agricultural practices have had a role to play in the degradation of land on which agriculture depends. South Africa has an international obligation to develop a National Action Programme (NAP), the purpose of which is to identify the factors contributing to desertification and practical measures necessary to combat desertification and mitigate the effect of drought. The priority issues reported on in this chapter are soil and veld degradation, and the loss of land for agricultural use.
Specializing CRISP-DM for evidence mining
(SpringerLink.com, 2007-01) Venter, JP; De Waal, A; Willers, N
Forensic analysis requires a keen detective mind, but the human mind has neither the ability nor the time to process the millions of bytes on a typical computer hard disk. Digital forensic investigators need powerful tools that can automate many of the analysis tasks that are currently being performed manually. This paper argues that forensic analysis can greatly benefit from research in knowledge discovery and data mining, which has developed powerful automated techniques for analyzing massive quantities of data to discern novel, potentially useful patterns. We use the term “evidence mining ” to refer to the application of these techniques in the analysis phase of digital forensic investigations. This paper presents a novel approach involving the specialization of CRISP-DM, a cross-industry standard process for data mining, to CRISP-EM, an evidence mining methodology designed specifically for digital forensics. In addition to supporting forensic analysis, the CRISP-EM methodology offers a structured approach for defining the research gaps in evidence mining.
Developmental peace missions: synergising peacekeeping and peacebuilding in transition periods
(Institute for Security Studies, 2007-06) Gueli, R; Liebenberg, F
Over the years, the functional gap between peacekeeping and peacebuilding (or 'post-conflict' reconstruction) has received a lot of attention because it remains a weakness in the policy framework of the United Nation (UN) conflict resolution repertoire, particularly in peace missions. This paper suggests that, in order to ensure that local populations are offered concrete evidence of progress; civilian peacebuilding should be more closely integrated with the military peacekeeping function, to assess and execute operations that aim to fill the gap between violent conflict and lasting peace
Impact of an adequate road environment on the safety of non-motorised road users
(Medical Research council - University of South Africa, 2008) Ribbens, H; Everitt, P; Noah, M
In South African, as is the case in most other developing countries, a significant proportion of the population walk or cycle on a daily basis to their places of work and to other destinations. Road accident casualties (fatalities and injuries) among these vulnerable road users (VRUs) have always been high and in 2004, they constituted about 41% i.e. 5 309 of the 12 727 road fatalities on South African roads. Non-motorised road users (NMRUs) comprise a variety of road users, mostly pedestrians or cyclists. The objective of this chapter is to highlight the research findings and those strategies and guidelines (which have been developed regarding the road environment) that should be addressed in order to improve the challenges that NMRUs have to face on a daily basis. The chapter also lists the human requirements that would ensure that people used safe facilities. Issues within the road environment that contribute to casualties among NMRUs are highlighted. These include the lack of a holistic approach to network planning; the inadequate and inconsistent provision of non-motorised transport infrastructure; poor integration of transportation and land-use planning; as well as the inadequacy of public transport planning aimed at reducing risk and exposure. Furthermore, strategies / countermeasures are discussed to promote the safety of VRUs. These include the strategies, policies, work plans and practices of government departments such as the Department of Transport (DoT) and the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DoPLG). The chapter concludes with the major shortfalls still being experienced in improving the road environment for NMRUs and also lists the areas that need to be researched. The development of proper guidelines for the provision of safe facilities for rural pedestrians and cyclists is one of the major areas that need to be researched
Do we practise what we preach in formulating our design and development methods?
(Springer-verlag, 2008) Kotzé, Paula; Renaud, K
It is important, for our credibility as user interface designers and educators, that we practice what we preach. Many system designers and programmers remain sceptical about the need for user-centred design. To win them over, there is need to be absolutely clear about what they need to do. It is up to community, to propose many different methods to support naive designers so that they will design and implement user-centred systems. One of the most popular methods in HCI design patterns - captured and formulated by experts for the sole purpose of transferring knowledge to novices. The paper investigates the usability of these patterns, using both theoretical and experimental analysis, and conclude that they are not usable. Hence, unfortunately, the conclusion is that we don't practice what we preach. The paper is concluded by making some suggestions on how to address this situation
From promising preaching to piloting the promise and teaching what is promising in planning practice
(Sun Media, 2008-08) Van Huyssteen, Elsona; Oranje, M
This chapter describes the National Spatial Development Perspective of South Africa (NSDP) District Application Project, which was initiated by the national Presidency of South Africa. In this pilot an attempt was made to test both the prospects and limitations of key constructs germane to both planning and sustainability science in a number of district municipal planning processes, and the extent to which these concepts had found acceptance in these districts. While limited to a sample of municipalities (13 of the 52 metro and district municipalities in South Africa) and not conducted specifically from a sustainability science perspective, the study does offer a range of lessons and areas of interest, recorded during and after the project intervention, for those serious about seeing the word of sustainability science becoming flesh

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