South African Journal of Science: current issue highlights October 23, 2009
Posted by Linda in : SAJS , 2commentsUniversities in a time of change
The common thread between all universities is that they are centres of debate and independent and critical thinking. In this issue, Nithaya Chetty discusses the threat that the suppression of academic freedom poses to South African universities, and raises his concerns regarding their corporatisation; and an associated marginalisation of the views of academics.
He points out that there is a widely-held view in South Africa, that academic freedom is a front for the perpetuation of elitism, and resistance to transformation. He thus argues that in order for our universities to protect academic freedom, it is essential for them to embrace valid processes of transformation.
Read more: S. Afr. J. Sci. 105 (9/10), 325 – 327.
South Africa’s gold production: not worth its weight in gold?
South Africa’s gold mining industry continues to be a major economic force in the country, but it is not nearly as important as it used to be. South Africa has, for example, recently fallen into second place behind China in the world ranking of gold producing countries. Despite this decline in production, South Africa still claims first place in the world ranking of gold reserves. Hartnady discusses the credibility of this claim using a critical analysis of gold production on the Witwatersrand. He argues that the Witwatersrand goldfields are 95% exhausted, and that it is time to examine the benefits of a declining industry against the costs to the environment.
Read more: S. Afr. J. Sci. 105 (9/10), 328 – 330.
Possible termite fossils in South Africa
The range of possible trace fossil architectures found in the Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Karoo region is reported for the first time in this issue by Bordy et al. The architecture of these sandstone structures indicates that they are fossils of an early Jurassic social insect, and they may be the best preserved social insect traces from the former Gondwana reported to date. This discovery in South Africa, together with an increasing number of fossils attributed to termite origin in North America, suggests that sociality in insects originated in the early Mesozoic, before the breakup of Pangea, which would explain their worldwide distribution today.
Read more: S. Afr. J. Sci. 105 (9/10), 356 – 362
Fire management in threatened fynbos
Brian van Wilgen reviews current and historical fire management practices in fynbos. In fynbos, burning was initially considered to be destructive and prevented where possible. But gradually, as the vital role of fire in fynbos ecosystems became better understood, managers turned to prescribed burning and experimented with different space and time protocols. Despite these policies of prescribed burning, wild fires remain the dominant feature in fynbos, fortunately driving a variable fire regime that remains broadly aligned with conservation objectives. The problem of conserving fire-adapted fynbos is complicated by invading alien trees that are also fire adapted. Despite improvements in control methods, alien trees, notably pines, continue to spread almost unchecked. Biological control offered some hope for controlling pines, but was ruled out as too high a risk for these commercially important trees. Failure to address this problem adequately will almost certainly result in the severe degradation of remaining fynbos ecosystems.
Read more: S. Afr. J. Sci. 105 (9/10), 335-342.
A Warm ASSAf Welcome to Louise and Zweli! October 21, 2009
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Louise van Heerden
It gives us great pleasure to welcome two more employees within our Scholarly Publishing Unit! Louise van Heerden and Zweli Ndayi joined us at the beginning of October 2009.
Louise has been appointed to the position of Metadata Librarian. She will be implementing the Scientific Electronic Library Online, South Africa (SciELO SA) platform. This will involve managing the titles, mark-ups and uploading of journal articles, as well as maintaining the quality of the database.
Louise holds a Masters degree in Information Science from the University of Johannesburg.
Zweli has been appointed as a Project Officer. He will be responsible for the Peer-review panels, the Institutional Repositories [which includes mark-ups and HTML] and he will also work closely with Louise.
Zweli Ndayi
Zweli has a BTech degree in Library and Information Studies from the Durban University of Technology and a certificate in Knowledge Management from the University of South Africa.
We sincerely hope they settle well at ASSAf! Namukelekile ['you are welcome'].
Notes from the TWAS Conference October 21, 2009
Posted by Andrea in : Uncategorized , 4commentsHello to you all from sunny Durban! The conference is going well, with lots of fascinating talks. Meeting great people, and enjoying the events. Last night was the formal dinner. The room looked magnificent, and the music was incredible! A Louis Armstrong sound-alike entertained us hugely with his renditions of old classics like ‘It’s a wonderful world’, ‘Mack the Knife’, and ‘Blueberry Hill’. Definite mood booster! Tonight we’re having a ‘Beach Party’ at uShaka Marine World hosted by the Durban municipality. Sure to be a great event!
Watch the TWAS Conference live! October 20, 2009
Posted by Andrea in : Uncategorized , add a commenthttp://www.livestream.com/twasconference2009
TWAS Conference approaches: the final countdown October 13, 2009
Posted by Andrea in : Events, International Relations, Liaison , add a commentPreparations for the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) 11th General Conference to be hosted by ASSAf at the International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban from 19-23 October 2009 are well underway. Over 400 TWAS Fellows and invited guests are scheduled to attend what promises to be a momentous event. The theme for this year’s conference is “Science for Africa’s Development”. TWAS Committees and Council will assemble for two days prior to the start of the conference. Science and Technology (S&T) in South African will be showcased in a symposium comprising invited presentations from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and representatives from the Centres of Excellence in South Africa. (more…)
