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Developing an illustrated business information resource for inland kraal fishers : a community engagement project
Full text linkAbstract: Inland fishing is rooted in the culture and identity of many South Africans, occurring in freshwater sources, such as lakes, rivers and dams, rather than coastal areas. Fishing is carried out for the purpose of securing food and also provides an opportunity for people to sell fish to surrounding communities (Britz, Ellender, McCafferty & Weyl 2012:327). ‘Kraal’ fishing is a method of inland fishing. The term ‘kraal’ refers to an African village of huts, typically enclosed by a fence (Oxford Living Dictionaries 2019). It is also used to describe some inland fishing practices that involve the use of rocks to form a ‘kraal’ that the fishers used to trap fish. Fishing is however about more than income and food security. The Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science (Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science 2016: 2) at Rhodes University notes that “kraals are an integral part to the fisher’s life and contributes to their physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, spiritual and social existence”. In South Africa, inland fisheries remain largely underdeveloped, resulting in many inland water sources remaining underutilised (McCafferty et al. 2012 in Britz 2016:624). Among the reasons for this is the fact that South African dams have historically been used by recreational fishers. Britz (2016:625-627) note that because fishing is not a tradition in many of South Africa’s rural communities, there is no national framework that can allow for both equitable and sustainable access to inland fishing resources. At the time of that article, the framework was in development, but the National Freshwater (Inland) Wild Capture Fisheries Policy was only adopted in 2021 (Oirere 2021) and is only recently being implemented1. Britz (2016:624) notes, Fishing for livelihood purposes by poor communities remains a marginalised activity and is often portrayed as ‘poaching’. In the absence of a comprehensive policy to guide inland fishery governance, colonial and apartheid-era inequalities of resource access by poor Black communities tend to be perpetuated…M.A. (Design
“A critical study of the case of Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. and its meaning for the protection of Application Programming Interfaces in South Africa”
No full textLL.M. (Intellectual Property Law)Abstract: Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have grown in popularity as a useful tool for conducting business, obtaining information, entertainment, and, most importantly, innovation and development in the technology industry. As a result, these prized works need to be protected, if only so that its creators and owners can reap the rewards of their creative and innovative efforts. However, this legal protection appears to be a long-standing source of contention. Some commentators support API protection, while others argue that developers should have free and open access to APIs. This dissertation investigates the contemporary scope of API protection to determine whether it is available and adequate, and, if not, to make recommendations for revisions to that protection. Although copyright law in the United States of America purports to cover APIs, its courts have found that this protection is severely limited due to the functional nature of APIs. Although, it is widely accepted that copyright law only protects the literal aspects of an API; the protection of its non-literal elements has proved contentious. This is primarily due to the specific exclusion stated in s 102(b) of the United States Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C., which disqualifies, among other things, ideas, processes, and methods of operation. APIs are classified as “methods of operation” and thus fall under this exclusionary category. There appears to be little to no research in this area in the South African legal framework and this study seeks to contribute to this field of development. This dissertation recommends that APIs be protected under the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, despite the fact that they are not specifically mentioned in the statute. This is because the definition of computer programs is broad enough to include the literal elements of APIs. However, because of its breadth and the fact that it does not require literary value for a work to be considered eligible for copyright protection, it is recommended non-literal aspects of an API should be protected under the literary works clause of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978
Design and development of six-component platform type wind tunnel balance incorporating optical fibre and strain gauge sensors
Full text linkM.Eng. (Mechanical Engineering Science)Abstract: Wind tunnel balance requirements are becoming increasingly stringent. There is a need for wind tunnel balances to offer higher resolution, improved stiffness, are immune to electro-magnetic interference (EMI), provide thermal compensation as well as reducing the cost and lead times associated with the development of a wind tunnel balance. To meet these needs, it was proposed that balance design philosophy should expand to include different materials, sensor technology, measurement philosophy and different manufacturing techniques. Therefore, this thesis investigates the design and development of a hybrid six-component balance that incorporates strain gauge and optical fibre sensors. Conventional strain gauge balances are designed and constructed to measure the local deformation (strain) of a material by utilising foil strain gauge sensors. It is required that sections of material in the balance be relatively thin to ensure that the strain is sufficiently high enough to offer acceptable resolution. This may have a negative impact on the overall stiffness of the balance. Furthermore, foil strain gauges are susceptible to EMI and thermal effects. A hybrid platform balance was designed which incorporated both strain gauge and optical fibre sensors. The strain gauge sensors were configured in a Wheatstone bridge, which are typically used in conventional strain gauge balances. This provides temperature compensation. The Optical Fibre Bragg Grating sensors were implemented using the two-groove method of strain measurement. The optical fibres spanned a gap in the optical fibre transducers. The optical fibre transducers were designed using the strain amplification design philosophy. Under an applied load, the optical fibre transducers bend, therefore, causing the gap to either open or close. This induces a strain in the fibre Bragg grating spanning it. The strain in the fibre causes a Bragg wavelength shift proportional to the magnitude of the strain. The strain induced in the fibre is significantly larger than the strain experienced on the surface of the material. This allows the balance to be made stiffer than a conventional, full strain gauge balance while offering comparable relative resolution. The two-groove method uses a pair of fibres to measure a single load component. Each fibre Bragg grating has a different reference wavelength. As the balance is loaded, one optical fibre transducer bends outwards, causing the optical fibre to experience a tensile strain, while the second transducer bends inwards, causing the optical fibre to experience a compressive strain. The final sensor output is defined by calculating the difference between the outputs of each of iv the fibres Bragg wavelengths. Typically, this method compensated for both unwanted forces and thermal interaction. However, due to the size of the balance, the two-groove method was not used to provide temperature compensation since the space between the transducers was sufficient that each transducer could experience different temperatures. However, it provided interaction compensation. A finite element method (FEM) study was conducted to analyse the performance of the hybrid balance before manufacturing. The FEM study of the design showed that the balance had high sensitivity and stiffness. Furthermore, the FEM study showed that the balance exhibited low interactions for each load component. The performance shown from the FEM study led to the decision to manufacture the hybrid balance. The balance was manufactured, assembled, gauged and tested. The balance was loaded to 60% of the maximum design load to avoid damaging the thin components as well as to avoid damaging the optical fibre and strain gauge transducers. The output of the optical fibre transducers was linear with regards to the wavelength shift in response to an applied load, however, the strain response output of the strain gauge transducers was found to be cubic with wavelength shift. The repeatability of the balance was found to be within 0,619%. However, this exceeded the recommended value of 0,1% set by the wind tunnel testing community. There were errors that resulted in uncertainties in the measurements. These errors were attributed to misalignments in the bonding of the strain gauges to the strain gauge transducers, design flaws with regards to the optical fibre transducers, loading and manufacturing errors. Fibre creep was another factor that contributed to the measurement uncertainty. Furthermore, the optical fibre sensors tended to drift in a time-dependent logarithmic trend. The drift was apparent when a load was applied or removed. This added further uncertainty. The interactions of the balance were larger that the FEM predicted interactions. This was mainly attributed to manufacturing errors and misalignment issues. The balance is a proof of concept that a balance can utilise two different sensors. The balance performance has shown that the balance is not ready to be utilised in a wind tunnel balance as it does not fully meet the criteria set by the wind tunnel testing community. However, the balance is cost effective with short production lead times. Before the balance can be implemented in a wind tunnel, fibre creep must be attended to and optical fibre installation methods must be revised
Predicting future trends of concentrations of various criteria pollutants within the Vaal Triangle airshed priority area, South Africa
Full text linkAbstract: Air pollution is a major problem in many countries and major cities across the world. The development of an Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) is one of the effective and efficient tools employed in managing acceptable air quality and differs for each country or area depending on the specific needs and requirements. In South Africa, the air quality has been a priority since the development of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act, 1965 (Act 45 of 1965), which was later repelled by the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (Act 39 of 2004). The NEMAQA led to the declaration of the Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area (VTAPA) as the first Air Quality Priority Area due to high pollutant concentrations (particulates) within the area. The declaration of an air quality priority area is an indication that the ambient air quality within the area exceeded or would exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The declaration of the VTAPA included the development of the VTAPA AQMP, and the setting of NAAQS for criteria pollutants because of their detrimental impacts on human health and the environment...M.Sc. (Environmental Management
Rare earth element prospectivity of the upper zone of the Rustenburg layered suite, Eastern Bushveld
Full text linkAbstract: The increasing demand for critical metals, such as the rare earth elements (REE), and the desire to become less dependent on Chinese resources has spurred global interest in search of economically viable REE deposits in other countries. Although the main economic interest in the Rustenburg Layered Suite (RLS) has been focused on the well-known Platinum Group Elements (PGE), Cr, and the world’s largest resources of V, Ti, and Fe, the Upper Zone (UZ) also contains vanadiferous titano-magnetite and apatite-ilmenitemagnetite mineralization at its bottom and top sections, respectively. Using regional soil geochemical data, Council for Geoscience delineated some of the known mineral deposits of the RLS in addition to new potential exploration targets, particularly for apatite ± REE in the Roossenekal area. The apatite ± REE potential areas were based on the TiO2 – Y – Fe2O3 (t) as proxies due to the limited regional soil data. In this study, one of the apatite potential areas, located southwest of Roossenekal, was selected for a followup investigation to verify the regionally outlined apatite target area and assess the reliability, effectiveness, and limitations of regional soil data in apatite exploration as well as assess the economic potential of the area. This was achieved by a detailed high-density soil sampling as well as grab rock sampling. The results reveal that Y correlates well to apatite, but not REE. Petrographic studies of olivine diorites show appreciable amounts of apatite, occurring both as inclusions and as an interstitial phase. In places, Y anomalies spatially coincide well with P2O5 anomalies in soil data and they occur over areas mapped as olivine diorites. The results demonstrate that the regional target areas based on TiO2 – Y – Fe2O3 (t) proxies, are representative of apatite mineralization and the high-density soil sampling is useful for followup work on regional soil geochemical targets. Although there may be significant apatite in the rocks, apatites are rather low in REE content and as such, the preliminary assessment of economic viability for apatite ± REE in the current study appears to be too low as compared to the world-renowned Phalaborwa deposit. Consequently, the apatites from the Bushveld are not a good target for REE enrichment, and their economic viability is greatly insignificant.M.Sc. (Geology
The human-centred design of an assistive swimming device to support water safety training
Full text linkAbstract: Drowning is a prevalent problem in South Africa, particularly among young children and in poor communities. International studies indicate water safety training and awareness contributes significantly to reducing drowning incidents. Drowning prevention modules, forming part of school-based swimming training, support preventative measures. However, there is no prescribed or recommended equipment for this essential training. Currently, swimming instructors have two options for assistive devices: commercially available equipment used by swimmers (i.e., pool noodles and kickboards) or recycled products. This study has established that, although there is no prescribed or recommended equipment for this essential training, most instructors use swimming aids / flotation devices such as pool noodles and kickboards to help learners become familiar with new techniques. However, in some contexts, due to a lack of funds/equipment available, swimming instructors and teachers are implementing an unorthodox approach by using empty plastic bottles as assistive devices during the water safety training sessions. This study has identified an opportunity to design a low-cost, contextually appropriate assistive device for water safety training, following a human-centred design (HCD) approach. The research design followed the three HCD phases of inspiration, ideation and implementation. The inspiration phase involved qualitative data gathering by means of an in-depth literature review, a precedent study and field research investigating the market of existing swimming aids and the needs/requirements of swimming instructors and learners during swimming training. Insights gathered in this phase were thematically analysed in order to define a set of design requirements, considerations and constraints. The ideation phase explored three concept directions through iterations of the design (sketching), making (prototyping), testing (user feedback) and refining the design cycle. User feedback formed an integral part of the design iterations, ultimately guiding and refining the chosen direction. Finally, the implementation phase included the refinement, testing and final analysis of the proposed design solution.M.A. (Design
Spectral continuity in Banach algebras
Full text linkAbstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract.M.Sc. (Mathematics
Sustainability practices and awareness level of their needs in the South African construction industry: A case study of the Belhar Social Housing Development Project in the Western Cape Province of South Africa
Full text linkAbstract: In the face of the heavy resource consumption of conventional construction, the concept of sustainable construction has been proposed as an alternative. However, evidence indicates that the concept is, unfortunately, not implemented in many developing countries, and even where it is (e.g., South Africa), the uptake is still slow. In the present study, four objectives were set: i) to determine the awareness level of South Africa’s developers of the concept of sustainable construction; ii) to determine the developers perceived barriers, opportunities, and solutions to mainstreaming sustainable construction in South Africa; iii) to determine the awareness levels and residents-led performance assessment of the sustainability measures implemented in the Belhar Gardens Rental Estate (BGRE), and iv) to identify the determinants of water saving sustainability measures implemented in BGRE. Data were collected through online questionnaires administered to experienced professional developers (n=19) and residents (n=106) of BGRE. These data were analysed using descriptive statistics and fitting a cumulative link model. In the population of targeted developers, 95% understand the concept of the sustainable construction and 74% know the existence of National Building Regulations and Building Standards (as amended) Act 103 of 1977 (the Building Act). However, 68% of those aware of the building Act acknowledge that the Act is actually in use in their organization. Furthermore, 85% believe that i) the environment and sustainability concept is more important than saving costs on constructions, ii) future technological development will assist in reducing the costs of sustainable construction, and iii) sustainable construction contributes to reducing global warming. However, some barriers to sustainable construction are raised: i) it is expensive (52% of developers believe so) and ii) there is limited knowledge and understanding of how the concept of sustainability can benefit the construction industry (68%). Along the same line, 74% agree that disseminating the knowledge of the concept of sustainable construction will not only contribute to reducing the cost of construction but also to meeting the Green Building Council South Africa’s requirements for sustainability. In terms of mainstreaming sustainable construction in South Africa, ecological design and procurement are the proposed solution by 63% of the developers while 95% indicated that the onus is on the government to promote sustainable construction within the construction industry. In the assessment of efficient energy use, 63% of the developers indicated that centralized heat pumps are a solution to creating sustainable housing in terms of efficient energy use. Only 55% of BGRE residents are aware that BGRE is EDGE-rated for water and energy efficiency. Also, 53% and 59% of residents are aware of the EDGE-rated initiatives implemented in BGRE for energy and water consumption efficiencies, respectively. Overall, 61% of residents are aware that energy-saving measures are implemented in BGRE. On the efficacy of the sustainable energy measures implemented, only 40% of the residents agree that the energy-saving measures implemented are efficient. On the usefulness of the information carried by energy meters installed, only 42% of residents find the information useful, i.e., contribute to a sustainable behaviour towards energy consumption. Interestingly, on the question of efficiency of energy consumption in BGRE in comparison with consumption in conventional housing where residents lived in the past, 65% indicated that the consumption in BGRE is less than in conventional construction. Finally, among all the variables tested, none correlates with residents’ satisfaction towards water saving measures implemented and even towards water flow restrictors measures. However, gender correlates significantly with satisfaction toward information displayed on water meters with males being the less satisfied gender (P=0.02). Overall, the present residents and professionals’ perceived barriers and benefits of sustainable construction provide opportunities on which mechanisms to employ if we want to improve the awareness, mainstreaming, and uptake of sustainable construction approach in South Africa. Keywords: Sustainable construction, Construction industry, Awareness, Satisfaction-level, Residents.M.Sc. (Environmental Management
The role of policy networks in self-build housing
Full text linkAbstract: In 2009 South Africa’s enhanced People’s Housing Process (ePHP) through which self-build housing would be implemented, was introduced. This article summarises the purposes and results of a research project undertaken to determine what role good policy network practices played in the attainment of ePHP policy objectives. The Clark Policy Network model served as a heuristic device in analysing the relationship between network characteristics, the Masizakhele Project as a case study and the attainment of policy outcomes in the project. The analysis revealed that project operations exhibited many of the indicators of the characteristics contained in the Clark Policy Network model, and that the operationalised policy outcomes associated thereto were fully attained. Generalisable observations developed during the analysis allowed the researcher to propose a network theory of policy implementation, that policy networks aimed at attaining developmental objectives must incorporate strategies to both attract and retain resources within the network
An investigation of factors affecting plasterboard warehouse inventory management: The case of a South African company
Full text linkM.Eng. (Industrial Engineering)Abstract: The purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting plasterboard inventory management in a warehouse at a South African company, hereafter referred to as Company X. Company X had multiple problems affecting inventory management. The prominent symptoms of inefficient inventory management were increased warehousing cost, excessive inventory, slow moving and obsolete stock, high scrap and poor cash flow in the organisation. The objective of this research was to address the factors affecting inventory management. This was a qualitative research study conducted in one company. The study sample comprised participants who were dealing with inventory management at Company X. Those who were not involved with inventory management were excluded from the study. A total of 15 participants were selected purposively for this study. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using open-ended questions. A questionnaire was approved by the Ethics and Plagiarism Committee of the University of Johannesburg. Data was recorded using a voice recorder instrument and analysed using a thematic analysis approach with Atlas ti. 9.0 software. Four themes emerged in answer to the research objective: inventory management knowledge, warehouse management, effects of inventory management and factors affecting inventory management. The findings of the study revealed that factors affecting plasterboard inventory management in the warehouse were lack of training and knowledge amongst the experienced inventory managers, lack of management commitment and involvement, errors in sales forecasting, lack of standardisation of inventory policies and poor material management practices. The study recommends that Company X employ workers with the prerequisite education and offer adequate training on inventory management. Moreover, the company must adopt an effective sales and operations planning process and adopt relevant inventory management policies. These changes will have a significant impact on the success of the organisation. Understanding the factors and various inventory management approaches is critical to minimise waste in this and other organisations
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