Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf): Open Journal Systems
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Laudatio for Professor Willemien du Plessis (BJur LLB LLD MA (Environmental Management))
No full textLaudatio for Professor Willemien du Plessi
Variations in the application of the components of the oral performance to Yoruba chants
No full textIt is common knowledge in oral literature that every oral form is naturally performed. The components of the oral performance are, namely, the text, the oral artist, the audience, music, and histrionics. Though these components apply to the performance of all oral forms, whether narrative or poetic, they are employed in diverse manners in consonance with the nature of the oral form being actualized. This is called the context of performance. The aim of this article is to do an inquiry into the contextual varying of the use of the components of the oral performance among oral traditional forms with emphasis on Yoruba oral traditional chants. My objectives are to verify how the nature of each chant dictates the degree to which the components can be applied to it in context. In other words, the prominence or unimportance of any component of the oral performance in each poetic form is determined by the rules surrounding the actualization of the subgenre. This survey is delimited to the Yoruba oral poetic forms classified as chants. The first is the context-restricted group that limits the use of the components of the oral performance by its own rules, thus making any deviation a taboo. The second group comprises forms that were originally context-bound but have begun to acquire secular features thus deemphasizing their invocatory worth and metamorphosing into entertainment subgenres. The third is the class of poetic forms that were originally secular. They have not only remained so, but have also absorbed the many influences of modernity. The data for analysis constitutes 13 oral forms which have been transcribed and translated from Yoruba to English. (Yoruba is one of the indigenous languages or mother tongues of Nigeria.) The oral performance theory which enumerates the variables listed above and functionalism which reveals the essence of the contextual applications of those components are handy for the theoretical framework and grounding of this article. Further, the oral-formulaic theory will be applied to chants in the first group above because their potency is tied to their formulaic structure
Masking death: Covid-19 inspired humour in the everyday orality of a Luo community in Kenya
No full textDeath, especially death which comes through disease, is often a hard subject that the human mind wishes to bury deep in the unconscious. The lack of ease with impending death eventually finds expression in everyday discourse. In this paper I look at performance of Covid-19 discourse through humour in a short episode of everyday orality of a Luo community in Uyoma, Siaya, in Kenya. The performance of the everyday language is textualized to display the aesthetics of contextual language through coinage, jokes, and puns, which manifest as humorous responses to an otherwise dire situation. From the feminising of the disease as Acory Nyar China, literally translated as “the petite Cory from China”, to the symbolic naming of aspects of the Covid-19 protocols and verbal jokes about the same, there is an inherent, deliberate attempt to literally laugh in the face of death. The identified aspects of language are treated as metaphorical masks, even as the mask as an object also becomes a metaphor. I employ discourse analysis, which treats language as living social phenomena capable of change, growth, expansion, and adaptation for contextual spatial and temporal expressions
The impact of vehicle parameters on road PM10 vehicle resuspended emissions: A case in South African low-income settlement
No full textAbout 70% of the roads in low-income settlements are unpaved and close (≤15m) to residents, thus a major source of ambientand indoor PM10 concentrations. International studies have suggested that decreasing vehicle speed and managing vehicle type onpaved or unpaved roads can reduce vehicle dust emissions. These mitigation strategies should be examined before being adoptedand gazetted into South African air quality management plans. This study aimed to characterise roads and traffic, emphasisingdetermining the impact of vehicle type on PM10 emissions. GIS was used to determine the proportion of paved and unpaved roads. Atraffic counter was used to monitor vehicles and to determine traffic composition, diurnal cycles, and average speed per road type.Field campaigns (summer; 6 days; 15 hrs per day) were carried out in Bokamoso to monitor PM10 concentration usinga TSI DustTrak DRX® real-time optical aerosol counter. The Box Model method quantifies vehicle PM10 emission factors for heavy-duty, medium-duty, and motor vehicles. About 0.88 km of road within Bokamoso is paved with a daily traffic volume of >2000, and 3.6 km is unpaved with >250 daily traffic volume. Paved road heavy-duty vehicle non-exhaust PM10 emissions reported a positive medium to strong coefficient of determination to vehicle speed increase with a coefficient of determination of 0.59. Even though there is a positive coefficient of determination between heavy-duty vehicle non-exhaust PM10 emission factors and speed on unpaved roads, it is weak (0.2) due to low and less variable vehicle speed. Motor vehicle paved and unpaved road non-exhaust emission factors showed no significant coefficient of determination with increased vehicle speed. Paved road non-exhaust emission factors were not significantly variable with vehicle type. They ranged between an average of 0.15-0.18 g/km/h, with motor vehicles reporting an average of 0.18 g/km/h while heavy-duty vehicles reported an average of 0.15 g/km/h. On the contrary, unpaved road non-exhaust traffic PM10 emissions ranged between 0.16-0.3 g/km/h. The emission factors presented may be used to model vehicle traffic emissions, improve on-road vehicle dust emissions impact assessment and as a guide when deciding on local applicable road dust mitigation strategie
A simplified and evidence-informed approach to designing removable partial dentures
Get PDFFor many decades the literature has regularly reported that there is a discrepancy between what is taught in dental school and what is practised, especially in the field of removable partial dentures. Not only that, but for more than 60 years reports from around the world have shown that, usually, the majority of clinicians abdicate their responsibility to design a removable partial denture (RPD) and instead leave this to the dental technician, who has no knowledge of the clinical condition of the patient and works only from a cast. Most patients around the world who require RPDs to improve aesthetics and chewing can only afford a removable prosthesis simply because the majority are poor. But RPDs can improve these aspects and contribute to an improved quality of life
The centrality of cybersecurity to socioeconomic development policy: A case study of cyber-vulnerability at South Africa’s Transnet
No full textUsing South African state-owned enterprise (SOE) Transnet as a case study, this article explores the factors that influence the cybersecurity risks that are posed to infrastructure, with implications for markets and society, by advanced computational systems. We studied the legislation and corporate governance decisions leading up to the July 2021 breach of Transnet’s IT network, a high-profile event with potential cascading consequences. We also examined the evolution, since the country’s transition to democracy, of the South African government’s approach to fostering a developmental state. The findings illustrate that cybersecurity policy needs to be a core dimension of contemporary South African socioeconomic development policy, necessitating a central role for the developmental state in creating trusted marketplaces and procuring suitable security software systems. The findings also underscore the reality that a failure to act against increasing cyber-threats constitutes a substantial risk to the functioning of the South African market. Based on the findings, this article argues for a close examination of how the cybersecurity performance of South African SOEs can be improved. While focused on South Africa, the findings are relevant to other countries seeking to integrate robust cybersecurity measures into their national logistical and infrastructural sectors
Spectrum-Aware Transitive On-Demand Routing Protocol for Military Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks
No full textThe advancement of wireless technology is increasing the demand for scarce spectrum. Cognitive radio ad hoc networks (CRAHNs) were proposed as a solution to spectrum scarcity which is also deployed in combat. However, military cognitive radio ad-hoc networks (MCRAHNs) are subject to destruction and frequent link breakages. The challenge with MCRAHNs routing is the timing-out of packets. This paper proposes the spectrum-aware transitive multi-cast on-demand distance vector (SAT-MAODV), optimised for throughput and delay. The relay nodes are selected based on zonal data and mobility. This is achieved through handshaking and sharing of location data. The nodes are expected to store location data of nodes encountered, which is used in routing and in determining the movement of the node. The mobility of military nodes is organised and structured, which simplifies routing. The SAT-MAODV was evaluated in network simulator 2 and the results show that the scheme is effective. UsingSAT-MAODV instead of xWCETT reduced routing path and node relay delay by at least 65% and 13% respectively, and increased achievable throughput by 31%. It also improved the delivery ratio by 9% while reducing latency by 27% in comparison with MARSA