The microstructure of plasmodesmata in internodal stem tissue of the Saccharum hybrid var. NCo376 : evidence for an apoplasmic loading pathway
- Authors: Botha, Christiaan E J , Cross, Robin H M , Gerber, Jacques
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6494 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004487
- Description: The distribution, structure and functional state of plasmodesmata were investigated to gain a clearer understanding of the sucrose transport pathway to the storage parenchyma cells in stem tissue in Saccharum officinarum var. NCo376. Evidence from structural studies on sugarcane stems by electron microscopy indicated that there are numerous plasmodesmata from the vascular bundles through to the storage parenchyma cells in mature stem tissue. Our studies, supported by fluorescence microscopy and iontophoresis, indicate that there are functional plasmodesmata in the phloemunloading pathway from transport phloem tissue to the bundle sheath in Saccharum, which could support symplasmic transport; plasmodesmata outside of the sheath cells in the storage parenchyma appear to be constricted by sphincter-like structures within their neck regions. Staining with Aniline Blue revealed evidence of large callose deposits, which co-localized with plasmodesmatal aggregates in the walls of the storage parenchyma cells. This suggests that the sucrose transport into, and accumulation by, storage parenchyma of mature stem tissue is under apoplasmic control.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Three decades of hydrological modelling research in South Africa
- Authors: Hughes, Denis A
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7072 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009526
- Description: This paper presents a review of the research undertaken in the field of hydrological modelling over roughly the last three decades, concentrating primarily on South African work in an international context. The focus is on deterministic, rainfall-runoff models and addresses issues related to model design as well as to the application of models in practice. I provide a brief description of what hydrological models are and what they are used for and discuss also the following issues: • Developments in understanding hydrological process and the extent to which these have filtered down into models. • Model calibration and parameter estimation. • Trends in data availability and how these have affected model development. • Trends in computer technology and their impacts on model development. I suggest that there have been substantial developments in the science and practice of hydrological modelling, but that there remain many problems that need to be addressed to improve the ability of models to contribute to the solution of problems of water resource management. Southern African scientists have contributed to the body of knowledge on hydrological modelling, despite the limited resources available compared to resources elsewhere. Internationally, the focus has not always been on the practical issues of model application and has commonly tended towards the more theoretical and mathematical issues of model calibration. This is not a trend that has found much favour in southern Africa (particularly amongst research funding agencies), where there are many problems of water resource management that have the potential to be resolved with existing models, applied in an appropriate way. The paper concludes by suggesting that further research needs to focus on the integration of the best in international developments with the tried and tested models that have been developed locally. The context of this research should be the search for more reliable estimations of water resource availability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Aquaculture Gets a Second Chance in SA
- Authors: Berold, Robert
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , report
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437556 , vital:73393 , ISBN , https://wrcwebsite.azurewebsites.net/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/WaterWheel_2005_03_Aquaculture%20p12-15.pdf
- Description: The user-friendly series of “How to….” handbooks are aimed at staff and stakehold-ers in catchment management forums (CMFs), catchment management agencies (CMAs) and municipalities. The handbooks are not all written at exactly the same level of “user-friendliness”, it depends on the topic, and target users.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Selecting medicinal plants for cultivation at Nqabara on the Eastern Cape Wild Coast, South Africa
- Authors: Keirungi, Juliana , Fabricius, Christo
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6637 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006862
- Description: [From introduction:] The intensive harvesting of medicinal plants for commercial trade in South Africa poses a threat to many species. Cultivation has therefore been considered as an alternative to collection in the wild. This paper aims to assess the feasibility of cultivating medicinal plants in the Nqabara Administrative Area on South Africa's Wild Coast. A combination of participatory and formal research methods was used to collect data on the importance of medicinal plants, collection localities, market prices, the time spent collecting plants and their ease of cultivation. The values attached to medicinal plants were mainly dependent on their market prices. Four of the five Nqabara traditional healers interviewed cultivated these plants in their home gardens, but many medicinal products were obtained in indigenous forests from the bark of large trees, which were unsuitable for cultivation. Collectors said that the proximity of forests to their homesteads and the richness of forests in medicinal plants influenced their selection of harvesting localities. There was no correlation between time spent collecting species and their market prices. These prices were, however, positively correlated with the species' perceived healing properties. Users acknowledged that harvesting had an adverse effect on large trees, are eager to cultivate them and are taking action to conserve indigenous forests. Community-based enterprises should focus on species that are easy to cultivate and have a high demand, such as Stangeria eriopus, Acalypha glabrata and Behnia reticulata but not Araujia sericifera, which is exotic and abundant. The main barriers to commercial cultivation are availability of suitable land, water, lack of start-up capital, and access to markets and to seeds. Cultivation of medicinal plants could contribute to the economic empowerment of women in rural areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The diet of Cape clawless otters at two sites along the Bloukrans River, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Parker, Daniel M , Burchell, R K , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6959 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012004
- Description: The diet of Cape clawless otters was assessed at two sites along the Bloukrans River using faecal analysis. Spraints (n = 78) were collected during 2000 and 2001 and analysed using the relative frequency of occurrence and the reconstituted wet weight methods. Both methods found crab (Potamonautes perlatus) to be the most important component (>50%) of the diet. Frog, Xenopus and Rana spp., (11–42%) was the second most important component while fish (Micropteris salmoides) was relatively unimportant (<14%). Although the diet of Cape clawless otters in the Eastern Cape Province was similar to that reported elsewhere, the fact that they were preying on an alien invasive fish and not the indigenous endemic Sandelia bainsii is significant. The validity of faecal analysis methods is also discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Creating a low cost VoiceXML Gateway to replace IVR systems for rapid deployment of voice applications
- Authors: King, Adam , Terzoli, Alfredo , Clayton, Peter G
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/427576 , vital:72448 , https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1andtype=pdfanddoi=af502fadc7349b9153c37f252bafbe07e86cbfd8
- Description: VoiceXML gateway which can be used to replace traditional Interactive Voice Re-sponse (IVR) platforms. The gateway is created by integrating a VoiceXML inter-preter, OpenVXI and a PBX, Asterisk, producing a Linux based, open source, sys-tem which is both a PBX and a VoiceXML browser. Reasons for choosing the components for the gateway and then the integration of these components are dis-cussed. VoiceXML applications can be used to replace IVR systems, which are then rendered by the gateway.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Critical media literacy: a design for the future
- Authors: Prinsloo, Jeanne
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6331 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008476
- Description: [From OPENSPACE Editor Alice Kanengoni's editorial]: Professor Jeanne Prinsloo notes in her article that "In fact, it has been argued that the significance of the media in people’s lives has increased to the extent that it has been described as their primary curriculum, thereby recasting formal education as the secondary curriculum." This therefore requires an incestment in media literacy; people's ability to to understand the world around them, as represented in the media. Thus, Professor Prinsloo argues for critical media literacy, citing the role that the media played in fuelling the genocide in Rwanda, as an illustrative case in point. She states that "While we can not attribute all blame in the Rwandan scenario to the radio use, it is clear that the media mattered." She indicates that "media representations and engagements play a significant role in the way we understand the world, its people and events, and ourselves therein." As such, societies should invest in building a critical citizenry that can read and deconstruct the various ideologies that are often carries in and through the media.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Design considerations for a reliable and secure wireless network
- Authors: Janse van Rensburg, Johanna , Irwin, Barry V W , Zhao, X G
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428199 , vital:72493 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622818_Design_considerations_for_a_reliable_and_secure_wireless_network/links/5b9a114792851c4ba81819fe/Design-considerations-for-a-reliable-and-secure-wireless-network.pdf
- Description: Wireless Networks have become widely accepted in enterprise net-works and can no longer be considered an experimental technology. However users often experience performance problems due to poor designs. These problems can be attributed to the physical nature of wireless networks, the electromagnetic wave. As a wave propagates through the air it is susceptible to interference, reflection or refraction, to name a few, that changes the wave and ultimately the received signal. However the effect of these can be mitigated with the proper design of a wireless network. In this paper these design consideration will be in-troduced through discussion of visualization packages that aid in the design process. Furthermore we will take a look at the security consid-erations of wireless networks; as, surprisingly even with the ratification of 802.11 i for almost two years now; security is still considered one of the biggest challenges against implementing a wireless local area net-work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Editorial: tracing actors, actants and relational dynamics in environmental education research
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67400 , vital:29084 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122719
- Description: publisher version , Introduction: This edition of the EEASA Journal provides insight into a range of relationships in the field of environmental education, and the complexities that exist around them, as reflected in the combination of papers. This Editorial picks up on the methodological ‘note’ (or is it a challenge?) provided by Godwell Nhamo in his paper in this edition of the journal. He provides a description of the possibilities that actor network theory provides for describing and explaining environmental policy processes, and recommends that environmental educators consider this methodology in their analyses. In particular, he refers environmental educators to applications of actor network theory for tracing relational dynamics between actors (i.e., environmental education practitioners) and actants which are non-human referents (e.g., the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and UNESCO’s (2005) International Implementation Scheme). In response to his paper, I have chosen to ‘pick up’ on this methodological discussion in this Editorial, by considering aspects of this theoretical perspective in describing the ‘happenings’ that occur across the pages of this edition of the EEASA Journal. In doing so, I highlight (in part) the diversity of actors and actants that are influencing the field of environmental education, their subject matter and contexts, and I highlight the relational dynamics that become evident when one accepts a methodology that aims to trace such dynamics. In particular, this Editorial considers how ‘The language of actors, actants and actor/actant-networks brings to the fore the relationships and complexities that exist around them’ (Nhamo, this edition).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Evaluation of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner as an alternative control of small hive beetles, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)
- Authors: Buchholz, S , Neumann, Peter , Neumann, K , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6929 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011945
- Description: Small hive beetles, Aethina tumida Murray, are parasites and scavengers of honeybee colonies, Apis mellifera L., and have become an invasive species that can cause considerable damage in its new distribution areas. An effective subspecies of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (=Bt) would provide an alternative to chemical control of this pest. Therefore, we tested three different Bt strains [B. thuringiensis, var. aizawai (B401®), B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Novodor®) and B. thuringiensis var. San Diego tenebrionis (Jackpot®)] and Perizin® (3.2% coumaphos), each applied on combs with a pollen diet fed to pairs of adult beetles. This evaluates the products for the suppression of successful small hive beetle reproduction. While none of the tested Bt strains showed a significant effect on the number of produced wandering larvae, we could confirm the efficacy of coumaphos for the control of small hive beetles. We further show that it is also efficient when applied with a lower concentration as a liquid on the combs. We suggest the continued search for efficient Bt strains naturally infesting small hive beetles in its endemic and new ranges, which may become a part of the integrated management of this pest.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Implementing the GrabCut segmentation technique as a plugin for the GIMP
- Authors: Marsh, Matthew , Bangay, Shaun D , Lobb, Adele
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433207 , vital:72951 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1108590.1108618
- Description: Image segmentation requires a segmentation tool that is fast and easy to use. The GIMP has built in segmentation tools, but under some circumstances these tools perform badly. "GrabCut" is an innovative segmentation technique that uses both region and boundary information in order to perform segmentation. Several variations on the "GrabCut" algorithm have been implemented as a plugin for the GIMP. The results obtained using "GrabCut" are comparable, and often better than the results of all the other built in segmentation tools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Interactions of fishes with particular reference to coelacanths in the canyons at Sodwana Bay and the St Lucia Marine Protected Area of South Africa
- Authors: Heemstra, Phillip C , Fricke, H , Hissmann, K
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7130 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011771
- Description: The deep demersal fish fauna at depths of 100–400min canyons off the St Lucia Marine Protected Area along the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal is compared with similar fish communities at the Comoro Islands and in the Indo-Pacific region. Fifty-four fish species were seen or photographed from the submersible Jago or by the discovery team of scuba divers in the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, habitat of the canyons off Sodwana Bay. An additional 94 fish species known from depths of 100–200 m along the coast of northern KwaZulu-Natal are likely to occur in the canyon habitat. The fish fauna of the Sodwana canyons shares at least 18 species with the deep demersal fish community off tropical coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. Thirty-seven of the Sodwana canyon fishes are also known from the coelacanth habitat in the Comoros.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Karyology of the redfin minnows, genus Pseudobarbus Smith, 1841 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae): one of the evolutionarily tetraploid lineages of South African barbines
- Authors: Naran, Daksha , Skelton, Paul H , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6770 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008063
- Description: The karyotypes of six species of Pseudobarbus Smith, 1841, namely P. afer (Peters, 1864), P. asper (Boulenger, 1911), P. burchelli Smith, 1841, P. burgi (Boulenger, 1911), P. phlegethon (Barnard, 1938) and P. tenuis (Barnard, 1938), were examined by conventional Giemsa staining and described. All six karyotypes have 2n = 100 chromosomes, dominated by biarmed chromosomes, as does the only other member of the genus, P. quathlambae (Barnard, 1938). Sex-related intraspecific karyotype variation was not found. The shared chromosome numbers and general similarity of the karyotypes (FN = 186–192) provide a new synapomorphy to support their monophyly, which is already indicated by anatomical and mtDNA markers. Karyotype evolution within the genus has been accompanied by chromosomal inversions and centromeric shifts. Comparison of the diploid number found in Pseudobarbus with other African barbine cyprinines, which have in the region of 2n=50 and lower FNs, suggests a tetraploid evolutionary origin of the genus, possibly by allotetraploidy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Professionalism and training for mass communication: challenges and opportunities for Southern Africa
- Authors: Berger, Guy
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6332 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008477
- Description: [From OPENSPACE Editor Alice Kanengoni's editorial]: Closely linked to a critical media citizenry that can demand better of the media, is the challenge of professionalism and training in the region. Professor Guy Berger illuminates the challenges that the region faces in this regard, a key one being the ability to to match the inputs with the outcomes ... where measuring whether the quality of media products is directly linked to the inputs in training needs to be explored further.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
The identification of mammalian species through the classification of hair patterns using image pattern recognition
- Authors: Moyo, Thamasanqa , Bangay, Shaun D , Foster, Gregory G
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432938 , vital:72914 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1108590.1108619
- Description: The identification of mammals through the use of their hair is important in the fields of forensics and ecology. The application of computer pattern recognition techniques to this process provides a means of reducing the subjectivity found in the process, as manual techniques rely on the interpretation of a human expert rather than quantitative measures. The first application of image pattern recognition techniques to the classification of African mammalian species using hair patterns is presented. This application uses a 2D Gabor filter-bank and motivates the use of moments to classify hair scale patterns. Application of a 2D Gabor filter-bank to hair scale processing provides results of 52% accuracy when using a filter-bank of size four and 72% accuracy when using a filter-bank of size eight. These initial results indicate that 2D Gabor filters produce information that may be successfully used to classify hair according to images of its patterns.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Urban-rural contrasts in Arbor Week in South Africa
- Authors: Guthrie, G , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6631 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006823
- Description: Trees provide people with environmental benefits. Greening projects have been implemented worldwide, but many of them have frustratingly low participation levels. In South Africa, tree-planting campaigns such as the national Arbor Week are generally aimed at schools. Because of the remoteness of rural schools, there are urban / rural disparities in standards of education, infrastructure and support provided at schools, and hence we hypothesized that these disparities would be mirrored in tree-planting activities associated with national Arbor Week. In the study reported here, 236 urban and rural schools were assessed by means of postal surveys and subsampled via direct interviews, as to their participation in Arbor Week activities, the provision of trees, constraints to participation, and the perceived benefits of planting trees. Very few urban schools had never participated in any Arbor Week activities, whereas one-fifth of rural ones had never participated in any way. Urban schools participated in a greater number of Arbor Week activities than rural schools, including tree-planting, displaying posters and having speeches. Thus, overall information about Arbor Week is lacking in rural areas compared to urban ones. Rural schools derived more benefits from planting trees, with shade and education being the primary benefits overall. Rural schools were supplied with trees by NGOs, whereas urban schools received trees from individual or company donations. The major constraints to tree-planting are livestock damage, water shortages, vandalism and theft. These obstacles need to be addressed in a holistic fashion in order to improve the participation and success of National Arbor Week as a vehicle for tree-planting and environmental awareness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
What does the movement of the Phloem-mobile symplastic tracer, 5,6-carboxyfluorescein in shoots of Pisum Sativum L. Indicate - the existence of a symplastic transport system? - a bid to answer some puzzling questions
- Authors: Ade-Ademilua, Omobolanle Elizabeth , Botha, Christiaan E J
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6492 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004475 , http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/ajpp.2006.127.131
- Description: Like other members of the Fabaceae, the minor veins of Pisum are categorized as a closed system termed type 2 minor vein configuration due to the presence of few or no plasmodesmal connections between the sieve element-transfer cell complex (SE-TCC) and the adjacent cells (Gamalei, 1989; van Bel and Gamalei, 1991) Pisum is classified further into the category of type 2 b minor vein configuration due to the presence of transfer cells with the characteristic wall ingrowths in the minor vein phloem (Gamalei, 1989). According to van Bel et al. (1992), there is a correlation between minor vein configuration and phloem loading. However, by reason of low plasmodesmal frequency, the pathway of the flow of assimilates in plants with type 2 minor vein configuration is considered to be apoplasmic (Gamalei, 1989; van Bel and Gamalei, 1991). Therefore, present reports on the movement of phloem-mobile 5,6-carboxyfluorescein, a known symplamically transported compound between pea leaflets raises some doubts on the accession that transport within the phloem in pea is strictly apoplasmic. In this study we look at different points of arguments and try to offer our explanation and conclusions on the transport pathways that are likely to exist in Pisum.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2006
AfrOBIS: a marine biogeographic information system for sub-Saharan Africa
- Authors: Grundlingh, M L , St Ange, U B , Bolton, John J
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7137 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011813
- Description: AfrOBIS is one of 11 global nodes of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a freely accessible network of databases collating marine data in support of the Census of Marine Life.Versatile graphic products, provided by OBIS, can be used to display the data. To date, AfrOBIS has loaded about 3.2 million records of more than 23 000 species located mainly in the seas around southern Africa. This forms part of the 13.2 million records of more than 80 000 species currently stored in OBIS. Scouting for South African data has been successful, whereas locating records in other African countries has been much less so.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Bee-hawking by the wasp, Vespa velutina, on the honeybees Apis cerana and A. mellifera
- Authors: Tan, K , Radloff, Sarah E , Li, J J , Hepburn, H Randall , Yang, Ming-Xian , Zhang, L J , Neumann, Peter
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6941 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011965
- Description: The vespine wasps, Vespa velutina, specialise in hawking honeybee foragers returning to their nests. We studied their behaviour in China using native Apis cerana and introduced A. mellifera colonies. When the wasps are hawking, A. cerana recruits threefold more guard bees to stave off predation than A. mellifera. The former also utilises wing shimmering as a visual pattern disruption mechanism, which is not shown by A. mellifera. A. cerana foragers halve the time of normal flight needed to dart into the nest entrance, while A. mellifera actually slows down in sashaying flight manoeuvres. V. velutina preferentially hawks A. mellifera foragers when both A. mellifera and A. cerana occur in the same apiary. The pace of wasp-hawking was highest in mid-summer but the frequency of hawking wasps was three times higher at A. mellifera colonies than at the A. cerana colonies. The wasps were taking A. mellifera foragers at a frequency eightfold greater than A. cerana foragers. The final hawking success rates of the wasps were about three times higher for A. mellifera foragers than for A. cerana. The relative success of native A. cerana over European A. mellifera in thwarting predation by the wasp V. velutina is interpreted as the result of co-evolution between the Asian wasp and honeybee, respectively.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Bridging the gap for Next Generation Services: Presence Services on Legacy Devices
- Authors: Moyo, Thamsanqa , Thinyane, Mamello , Wright, Madeleine , Irwin, Barry V W , Clayton, Peter G , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428177 , vital:72491 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/49665432/Paper_2063_20-_20Moyo-libre.pdf?1476717366=andresponse-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DBridging_the_gap_for_Next_Generation_Ser.pdfandEx-pires=1714737455andSignature=RRbr9pzIYSYX8v7FG6FzV4tu3dFXm9qmmqq5WirOhuYdt--mjOfcDHQNLPYZHCmtgYZWdVk6bVFxfGOVJxgXrvkTe2QN2AZV3XfFTZ3mi1s3A5gw2jIXOVHrYUnaf~POgdijdY85mqWhco3vL6Qk3sOZgYjIlTF5ZGAKg1S54W978Nom01cT2~oqRA0Et6mTNmydWfF5MhFxQIq~LNmYqEqmEESKkkWQFwg6xJJUu0uGffbaZXXBA6oDI2cpfkz1FleKyKaRDRJvdfnuTHPoJJ4TzfO6DDVCWKvJ45jaxIzaGmK-03Ai29I-DPyy-c557kZh~kF3rmDg3zrXVNaL8A__andKey-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: Next generation services are provided by applications that leverage packet-based domains. A challenge faced by such services is the support for multiple devices, including legacy devices. Our paper examines a strategy for the pro-vision of next generation services on legacy cellular network devices. We ad-vocate that the provision of next generation services via applications on the SIM card allows for the deployment of such services on legacy devices. We demonstrate this assertion through a proof of concept application, SIMPre, that resides on a SIM card. SIMPre implements a presence service by leveraging Java Card, the SIM Application Toolkit and the OMA IMPS standard. We show that it is possible to provide a next generation service on the SIM card such that it ubiquitously integrates with the functionality of a legacy device. We con-clude through this demonstration that the SIM card is a viable option for provid-ing backward compatibility to legacy devices in the implementation of next generation services.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007