Polygamy in the recognition of Customary Marriages Act:
- Authors: Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141809 , vital:38006 , DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2009.9676275
- Description: The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act (RCMA) 1998, recognises customary marriages which are “negotiated, celebrated or concluded according to any of the systems of indigenous African customary law which exist in South Africa” including polygamous marriages. The Act arises in the context of South Africa's Constitution which bans discrimination on grounds of culture and sexual orientation and allows for heterogeneity in its definitions of marriage and the family. A pluralist approach to family jurisprudence, however, is sometimes conceived of as setting up an irresolvable tension between the constitutional commitment to gender equality and protection for patriarchal prerogatives sanctioned by customary law. The fact that rights sometimes collide with one another is one of the reasons why it is impossible always to treat rights as absolute. When rights clash the question that arises is which of the rights that find themselves in tension with one another should give way and why?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Porphyrin nanorods modified glassy carbon electrode for the electrocatalysis of dioxygen, methanol and hydrazine
- Authors: George, Reama C , Mugadza, Tawanda , Khene, Samson , Egharevba, Gabriel O , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247388 , vital:51576 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.201100081"
- Description: Porphyrin nanorods (PNR) were prepared by ionic self-assembly of two oppositely charged porphyrin molecules consisting of free base meso-tetraphenylsulfonate porphyrin (H4TPPS42−) and meso-tetra(N-methyl-4-pyridyl) porphyrin (MTMePyP4+M=Sn, Mn, In, Co). These consist of H4TPPS42−SnTMePyP4+, H4TPPS42−CoTMePyP4+, H4TPPS42−InTMePyP4+ and H4TPPS42−MnTMePyP4+ porphyrin nanorods. The absorption spectra and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images of these structures were obtained. These porphyrin nanostructures were used to modify a glassy carbon electrode for the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen, and the oxidation of hydrazine and methanol at low pH. The cyclic voltammogram of PNR-modified GCE in pH 2 buffer solution has five irreversible processes, two distinct reduction processes and three oxidation processes. The porphyrin nanorods modified GCE produce good responses especially towards oxygen reduction at −0.50 V vs. Ag|AgCl (3 M KCl). The process of electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol using PNR-modified GCE begins at 0.71 V vs. Ag|AgCl (3 M KCl). The electrochemical oxidation of hydrazine began at around 0.36 V on H4TPPS42−SnTMePyP4+ modified GCE. The GCE modified with H4TPPS42−CoTMePyP4+ H4TPPS42−InTMePyP4+ and H4TPPS42−MnTMePyP4+ porphyrin nanorods began oxidizing hydrazine at 0.54 V, 0.59 V and 0.56 V, respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Privatisation, human rights and security: reflections on the draft international convention on regulation, oversight and monitoring of private military and security companies
- Authors: Juma, Laurence
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/128800 , vital:36160 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ldd.v15i1.3
- Description: Efforts to establish regulatory frameworks for private military/security companies (PMSCs), driven by public security concerns as well as private interests of the companies themselves, have yielded a number of soft law instruments. Unfortunately, most of these instruments are conditioned by the underlying interests of their promulgators and have therefore failed to establish universally acceptable regulatory standards.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Prospects for the biological control of submerged macrophytes in South Africa
- Authors: Coetzee, Julie A , Bownes, Angela , Martin, Grant D
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452295 , vital:75118 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC32899
- Description: Historically, biological control efforts against aquatic plants in South Africa have focused on floating species, and as a result, there has been a dearth of research into the invasion and control of submerged macrophytes. With numerous submerged invasive species already established in South Africa, thriving horticultural and aquarium industries, nutrient-rich water systems, and a limited knowledge of the drivers of invasions of submerged macrophytes, South Africa is highly vulnerable to a second phase of aquatic plant problems. Experience gained in the U.S.A. on biological control against submerged weeds, such as hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle (Hydrocharitaceae) and spiked / Eurasian watermilfoil, Myriophyllum spicatum L. (Haloragaceae), have provided South African researchers with the necessary foundation to initiate programmes against these weeds. Research in South Africa is currently focused on pre-release studies on the biological control of H. verticillata, using an undescribed fly, Hydrellia sp. (Diptera: Ephydridae) and a weevil, Bagous hydrillae O'Brien (Coleoptera: Curculionidae); and on M. spicatum using a North American weevil, Euhrychiopsis lecontei Dietz (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Feasibility studies into biological control of some incipient submerged weeds are also being conducted, including Brazilian water weed, Egeria densa Planch. (Hydrocharitaceae), Canadian water weed, Elodea canadensis Mitch. (Hydrocharitaceae) and cabomba, Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray (Cabombaceae). Progress with, and potential constraints that may limit these programmes, are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Range extension of the Lufira Masked Weaver Ploceus ruweti, endemic to Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo
- Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Hasson, Michel , Jordaens, Kurt , Breman, Floris C , Louette, Michel
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449489 , vital:74825 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/00306525.2010.523018
- Description: For many years the status of Ploceus ruweti Louette and Benson 1982, described from the unique male type specimen obtained in 1960 at Lake Lufira (an artificial impoundment on the Lufira River), remained obscure. However, in 2009 MH revisited the type locality, photographed the birds breeding there (including females and young birds), and rec-orded their song; nests and eggs were described for the first time, and a second male specimen was obtained from local fishermen (Louette and Hasson 2009; collection number RMCA A9-18-A-1). This species had been treated in the authoritative series The Birds of Africa as the Lake Lufira Weaver (Oschadleus 2004), and appears under this name in current checklists and fieldguides (eg Sinclair and Ryan 2003). Since the lake is now known as Lake Tshangalele and, based on our data from a recent field trip to the region, the bird is not restricted to the lake, an appropriate common name for P. ruweti is ‘Lufira Masked Weaver’as recommended by Gill and Wright (2006), and as used in a forthcoming volume of the other authoritative series Handbook of the Birds of the World (Craig 2010).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Redox activity of CdTe quantum dots linked to nickel tetraaminophthalocyanine
- Authors: Khene, Samson , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/246457 , vital:51478 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2011.06.024"
- Description: Cadmium tellurite quantum dots (CdTe-QDs) are linked to nickel tetraamino phthalocyanine (CdTe-QDs-NiTAPc) through an amide bond. Differential pulse voltammetry shows that that NiTAPc stabilizes the QDs against oxidative disintegration into metallic products on oxidation. Electrocatalytic oxidation of 2, 4-dichlorophenol (DCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) on CdTe-QDs and CdTe-QDs-NiTAPc adsorbed or electrodeposited onto a gold electrode were studied. Adsorbed CdTe-QDs-NiTAPc shows the lowest potential for DCP and PCP oxidation and it is also more stable to fouling by PCP and its oxidation products compared to adsorbed CdTe-QDs without NiTAPc. Electrodeposited CdTe-QDs or CdTe-QDs-NiTAPc show the best activity in terms of enhanced currents towards the oxidation of the chlorophenols.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Regulation and risk assessment for importations and releases of biological control agents against invasive alien plants in South Africa
- Authors: Klein, Hildegard , Hill, Martin P , Zachariades, Costas , Zimmermann, Helmuth G
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/451481 , vital:75052 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC32898
- Description: The importation and release of biological control agents against invasive alien plants in South Africa are subject to regulation by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), under its Agricultural Pests Act, and by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), initially under its Environment Conservation Act, subsequently under the National Environmental Management Act and eventually, as soon as the relevant regulations have been developed, under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. Peer review, both within South Africa, and with colleagues in other countries, has helped to ensure the integrity of the science and practice of weed biological control in South Africa. This paper traces the development of the regulatory system from the first weed biological control project in 1913, through a dispensation when importations and releases were authorized by DAFF only to a dual regulatory system involving two government departments. Inappropriate legislation, lack of knowledge about biological control amongst the relevant authorities and the costs of employing compulsory private consultants are some of the reasons for significant delays that have become a feature in the authorization of biological control agent releases. These delays have set back several control programmes. Holding agents in quarantine while awaiting decisions ties up expensive space and staff time and increases the risk of losing colonies through accidents or decreased genetic vigour. It seems likely that changes in legislation within DEA will streamline the regulatory process in the near future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Remains to be said: The "um" in art and other disfluencies
- Authors: de Jager, Maureen
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147369 , vital:38630 , https://0-hdl.handle.net.wam.seals.ac.za/10520/EJC45815
- Description: Taking as my starting point an artwork of "fillers" - a 2010 sound piece by Fine Art student Romie Sciscio foregrounding the disfluent speech of various visiting academics to the Department of Fine Art, Rhodes University - I propose that speech disfluencies such as "um", "kind of" and "I suppose" should not simply be derided as white noise or verbal graffiti. Rather, filled pauses - understood both literally and metaphorically - may be seen to function critically, precisely because they are located neither inside nor outside the "message" of speech. They hover between presence and absence, seemingly content-less and yet dimly portentous: they do and do not matter to meaning. As such, they require (or provoke and demand) a different kind of listening - the acoustic equivalent of reading between the lines.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Report on the Mesozoic volcanic and intrusive rocks on the Namibe Basin, Southwest Angola:
- Authors: Marsh, Julian S
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144846 , vital:38384
- Description: The Bero Volcanic Complex comprises a diverse group of quartz latite and tholeiitic basalt lavas, pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits, aeolian sandstones as well as intrusive tholeiitic mafic dykes and gabbros. Only the silicic members of this suite have received prior attention being referred to as “granitic porphyries” by Carvalho (1961) who regarded them as being Precambrian in age. Alberti et al.(1992) informally referred to these silicic rocks as the ‘Giraul Volcanics’ and correlated them with the early Cretaceous Paraná-Etendeka Igneous Province of Brazil and Namibia.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Rethinking ‘actually-existing’ public spheres:
- Authors: Garman, Anthea
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/159869 , vital:40351 , DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2011.621292
- Description: The idea of the usefulness and efficacy of the public sphere, and the notion of publicness it employs, is one which continues to resonate in modern-day liberal democracies as a mechanism to engage citizens in national matters. It also serves as a check on unfettered power and particularly as a rationale for the news media and their operations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Seducing the people: populism and the challenge to democracy in South Africa
- Authors: Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141668 , vital:37995 , DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2011.533056
- Description: Recent ructions in South Africa's ruling African National Congress have been described from time to time in the media as signalling a dangerous shift towards ‘populism’. The article examines this contention. It argues that South Africa is witnessing a significant challenge to the founding precepts of constitutional democracy. This challenge emanates from the (populist) equation of democracy with ‘the will of the people’. The article unpacks some of the implications of reducing democracy to majoritarianism. It provides also an analysis of why populist appeals of various kinds have been so appealing to South African voters 15 years into democracy. The article argues that the challenges that are currently being experienced in relation to democratisation in South Africa have to do with the inherent tension between the animating ideology of democracy, which suggests that power resides with the people, and the practical functioning of democracy, which relies on the devolution of power to the representatives chosen by a section of the people who rely on order and predictability in the polity in order to govern in a workable way. Populist appeals, it is argued, exploit this tension. But what makes it possible for this strategy to succeed is the failure on the part of political elites to engage in the process of building democracy by way of inculcating respect for democratic values.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Selection and characterization of suitable lipid excipients for use in the manufacture of didanosine-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid carriers
- Authors: Kasongo, Kasongo W , Pardeike, Jana , Muller, Rainer H , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/184016 , vital:44156 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jps.22711"
- Description: This research aimed to evaluate the suitability of lipids for the manufacture of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) loaded with the hydrophilic drug, didanosine (DDI). The crystalline state and polymorphism of lipids with the best‐solubulizing potential for DDI was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS). DSC and WAXS were also used to determine potential interactions between the bulk lipids and DDI. Precirol® ATO 5 and Transcutol® HP showed the best‐solubilizing potential for DDI. Precirol® ATO 5 exists in the β‐modification before heating; however, a mixture of both α‐ and β‐modifications were detected following heating. Addition of Transcutol® HP to Precirol® ATO 5 changes the polymorphism of the latter from the β‐modification to a form that exhibits coexistence of the α‐ and β‐modifications. DDI exists in a crystalline state when dispersed at 5% (w/w) in Precirol® ATO 5 or in a Precirol® ATO 5/Transcutol® HP mixture. DSC and WAXS profiles of DDI/bulk lipids mixture obtained before and after exposure to heat revealed no interactions between DDI and the lipids. Precirol® ATO 5 and a mixture of Precirol® ATO 5 and Transcutol® HP may be used to manufacture DDI‐loaded SLN and NLC, respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Selective adsorption of PVP on the surface of silver nanoparticles
- Authors: Mdluli, Phumlani S , Sosibo, Ndabenhle M , Mashazi, Philani N , Nyokong, Tebello , Tshikhudo, Robert T , Skepu, Amanda , van der Lingen, Elma
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247143 , vital:51550 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2011.07.049"
- Description: The use of surfactants to affect the shape evolution of silver nanoparticles is explored. This allows one to fine-tune the morphological evolution and the optical properties of the metal nanoparticles. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) has been used as a surfactant to control the growth of silver nanoparticles at room temperature. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to understand regio-selective adsorption of PVP that leads to the preferential growth of silver nanoparticles in dimethylformamide (DMF). The interaction energies between PVP and Ag(1 1 0), Ag(1 0 0) and Ag(1 1 1) crystal planes were calculated and in addition the length density profile of the surfactant on silver surfaces was also examined. Importantly, it has been demonstrated that the length distribution profiles analysis obtained from the molecular dynamics study fully explained the adsorption of PVP on the surface of silver nanoparticles through the carbonyl group of the PVP ring. The application of molecular dynamics simulation technique is important in understanding the evolution of silver nanoparticles and is vital in choosing the right surfactants.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Shaking a hornets' nest: pitfalls of abortion counselling in a secular constitutional order–a view from South Africa
- Authors: Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141521 , vital:37982 , DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2011.627469
- Description: There exists an enormous gulf between the aspirations of South Africa's abortion legislation – among the most liberal in the world – and its implementation. One weakness in the provision of abortion services in South Africa is the absence of comprehensive abortion counselling services. On the face of it, the idea that counselling ought, as a matter of course, to be a significant component of a country's termination of pregnancy service provision, seems both straightforwardly sensible and politically innocent. This paper describes how abortion counselling has historically, in many different contexts, been saturated with questionable assumptions about women and their bodies. Counselling has more often than not been deployed, either as the formal policy of states or through informal mechanisms, as a means of curbing the right to abortion rather than deepening the meaning of that right. Differing approaches to counselling emerge as a reflection of contestations over reproductive and gender politics. Specifying an appropriate model for the provision of state-sponsored abortion counselling in the public health sector of a secular constitutional state provokes more of a hornet's nest of dilemmas than is sometimes supposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Simulating Collective agency: Joint purpose, presence and power as Constraints to learning in a social Context
- Authors: Kulundu, Injairu
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/386530 , vital:68149 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122249"
- Description: This paper reflects on the practice of social learning by using my experiences as a social development practitioner in two projects. The first, the Arkwork Collective, is an art-junk process that engages marginalised youth in Grahamstown, South Africa in a process that uses creative sculpture and drama to explore personal and social issues that exist in their immediate context. The second, Jonga Phambili Sinethemba looks into the impact of climate change and HIV/AIDS (amongst other issues) in the rural and peri-urban communities of Willowvale and Lesseyton in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It seeks to provide a platform where members of each community can define the vulnerabilities, capabilities, social networks in their areas with the aim of bolstering the adaptive capacity of these communities. Snippets of my experiences in these projects are shared with the intention of demonstrating constraints to learning in a social context. Key ideas that the paper explores include honouring the lived experiences of participants as part of the process, prioritising the participation of each individual present as part of the ongoing conversation, the challenge of surfacing the vital independent links of a collective, drawing on the reflective capacity of a diverse group, assessing the quality of participation, building capabilities for ‘response-ability’ and rethinking facilitation. Each section sets out challenges and questions for practitioners in this field to reflect on. The paper suggests that in order to achieve the laudable aims of social learning, we need to peel back the common rhetoric of its participatory aims and acknowledge the complexity, flexibility and dedication that it requires.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Small steps to equal dignity: the work of the South African equality courts
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68920 , vital:29339 , http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/ERR7_kruger.pdf
- Description: Publisher version , Introduction: “The South African Constitution is primarily and emphatically an egalitarian constitution. The supreme laws of comparable constitutional states may underscore other principles and rights. But in the light of our own particular history, and our vision for the future, a constitution was written with equality at its centre. Equality is our Constitution’s focus and organising principle.” Given the foundational role of equality in the South African constitutional framework, the drafters of the South African Constitution (the Constitution) directed the South African Parliament (Parliament) to enact legislation to “prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination” between individuals within three years of the enactment of the Constitution.3 Under great pressure, Parliament finalised and passed the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (the Equality Act) within two days of the constitutional deadline.4 The Equality Act, as the title indicates, addresses the promotion of equality on the one hand, and provides for reactive measures where the equality right is breached, on the other. The reactive provisions include the prohibition of unfair discrimination and related infringements of the equality right. The Equality Act expressly provides for the enforcement of its provisions in specifically created equality courts. The majority of the reactive provisions of the Equality Act have been operational since 16 June 2003. More than a decade after the enactment of the legislation, the promotional aspects of the Equality Act are yet to come into operation. This article focuses on the reactive provisions of the Equality Act by providing a snapshot of the work of selected South African equality courts for the period from June 2003 to December 2007 insofar as complaints of racism are concerned. In order to contextualise the application of the Equality Act, the article provides a brief overview of the reactive provisions of the Equality Act and the mechanisms for its enforcement.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011
SOA driven architectures for service creation through enablers in an IMS testbed
- Authors: Tsietsi, Mosiuoa , Terzoli, Alfredo , Wells,George C
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430726 , vital:72711 , https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6144230
- Description: Standards development organisations have long been in agreement that the most appropriate and cost effective way of developing services for the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is through the use - and re-use - of service capabilities, which are the building blocks for developing complex services. IMS specifications provide a theoretical framework for how service capabilities can be aggregated into large service appli-cations. However, there is little evidence that mainstream IMS service development is capability-based, and many services are still designed in a monolithic way, with no re-use of existing functionality. Telecom-munication networks are well positioned to stimulate the Internet ser-vices market by exposing these service enablers to third parties. In this paper, we marry the two issues by defining an extended IMS service layer (EISL) that provides a service broker that is the central agent in both service interaction management and the execution of external re-quests from third parties. A prototypical implementation of the service broker is described that was developed using a converged SIP servlet container, and a discussion is also provided that details how third party developers could use HTTP APIs to interact with a service broker in or-der to gain access to network capabilities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Some considerations when comparing SABAP 1 with SABAP 2 data
- Authors: Bonnevie, Bo T
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/448327 , vital:74722 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2011.603486
- Description: Generally, one should be cautious when comparing data that have not been collected in the same manner. The data collection methods of the South African Bird Atlas Projects, SABAP 1 (Harrison et al. 1997) and SABAP 2 (in progress at the time of writing), differ both spatially and temporally. On the spatial scale SABAP 1 used predominantly quarter degree cells (15′ by 15′), whereas SABAP 2 uses pentads (5′ by 5′; one quarter-degree cell containing nine pentads). On a temporal scale SABAP 1 used one calendar month, whereas SABAP 2 is using one pentade (five days). Where possible, however, SABAP 1 used pentades post hoc for seasonality modelling (Harrison et al. 1997, pp lviii–lix). Because of, but possibly not limited to, this, caution will need to be exercised when comparing data between the two projects. It is naturally desirable to compare the data between these projects, particularly to seek long-term trends in population densities and in the potential changes in the distribution of species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
South Africa’s Abortion Values Clarification Workshops: an opportunity to deepen democratic communication missed
- Authors: Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141981 , vital:38021 , DOI: 10.1177/0021909610396161
- Description: A rich literature exists on local democracy and participation in South Africa. While the importance of participation is routinely built into the rhetoric of government, debate has increasingly focused on the dysfunctionality of participatory mechanisms and institutions in post-apartheid South Africa. Processes aimed ostensibly at empowering citizens, act in practice as instruments of social control, disempowerment and cooptation. The present article contributes to these debates by way of a critique of the approach used by the South African state, in partnership with the non-governmental sector, in what are called abortion ‘values clarification’ (VC) workshops. This article examines the workshop materials, methodology and pedagogical tools employed in South African abortion VC workshops which emanate from the organization Ipas — a global body working to enhance women’s sexual and reproductive rights and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries. VC workshops represent an instance of a more general trend in which participation is seen as a tool for generating legitimacy and ‘buy-in’ for central state directives rather than as a means for genuinely deepening democratic communication.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Stable isotope methods: the effect of gut contents on isotopic ratios of zooplankton
- Authors: Hill, Jaclyn M , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444623 , vital:74255 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2011.02.002
- Description: In the past decade there has been an increased awareness of the potential for methodological bias resulting from multiple pre-analytical procedures in foodweb interpretations based on stable isotope techniques. In the case of small organisms, this includes the effect of gut contents on whole body signatures. Although gut contents may not reflect actual assimilation, their carbon and nitrogen values will be isotopically lighter than after the same material has been assimilated. The potential skewing of isotopic ratios in whole organism samples is especially important for aquatic environments as many studies involve trophic relationships among small zooplankton. This is particularly important in pelagic waters, where herbivorous zooplankton comprise small taxa. Hence this study investigated the effect of gut contents on the δ13C and δ15N ratios of three size classes of zooplankton (1.0–2.0, 2.0–4.0 and >4.0mm) collected using bongo net tows in the tropical waters of the south-west Indian Ocean. Animals were collected at night, when they were likely to be feeding, sieved into size classes and separated into genera. We focused on Euphausia spp which dominated zooplankton biomass. Three treatment types were processed: bulk animals, bulk animals without guts and tail muscle from each size class at 10 bongo stations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011