Influence of Altitude on the Spatiotemporal Variations of Meteorological Droughts in Mountain Regions of the Free State Province, South Africa (1960–2013)

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was computed for October to December (OND) and January to March (JFM) summer subseasons for Free State Province, South Africa, to assess the influence of altitude on drought severity and frequency. The observed spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the SPI variability revealed that factors governing drought interannual variability varied markedly within the region for the two subseasons. Strong correlations between r=0.76 and 0.93 across the clusters in both subseasons were observed. Significant shift in average SPI, towards the high during the OND subseason, was detected for the far western low-lying and central regions of the province around the 1990s. An ANOVA test revealed a significant relationship between drought severity and altitude during the OND subseason only. The impact of altitude is partly manifested in the strong relationship between meridional winds and SPI extremes. When the winds are largely northerly, Free State lies predominantly in the windward side of the Drakensberg Mountains but lies in the rain shadow when the winds are mostly southerly. The relationship between ENSO and SPI indicates stronger correlations for the early summer subseason than for the late summer subseason while overall presenting a diminishing intensity with height over the province.

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Impact of organisational culture on job stress and burnout in graded accommodation establishments in the Free State province, South Africa

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management ◽

10.1108/ijchm-03-2014-0100 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (6) ◽

pp. 1198-1213 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Deseré Kokt ◽

Relebohile Ramarumo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Work Environment ◽

Job Stress ◽

Organisational Culture ◽

Free State ◽

Competing Values ◽

Free State Province ◽

Content Type ◽

Subsequent Performance ◽

The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organisational culture on job stress and burnout in graded accommodation establishments. The demanding nature of work in the hospitality industry (e.g. long hours and shift work) renders job stress and burnout, a persisting challenge for the industry. Employees that are constantly subjected to a challenging work environment may experience increased levels of job stress and burnout or even leave the industry entirely. The Free State province of South Africa has a well-established hospitality sector, and this investigation shows the extent to which job stress and burnout are mitigated by a favourable organisational culture. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was administered to 46 graded accommodation establishments in the two main economic clusters (Bloemfontein and Clarens) of the Free State province of South Africa. The investigation was quantitative in nature and the robust competing values framework (CVF) was used as conceptual guide. Findings – The findings indicate that graded accommodation establishments had a predominantly Rational Culture, which points to strong external positioning and competitiveness. Correlation and regression analyses further confirmed that although the Rational Culture does have a mitigating effect on job stress and burnout, the values associated with the Group Culture and Developmental Culture exert an even stronger mitigating effect. Practical implications – Managers need to establish a flexible, employee-oriented work environment where employees are allowed to be innovative and entrepreneurial. Originality/value – The main causes of job stress and burnout in accommodation establishments revolve around the intense customer focus of the industry and the subsequent performance expected from employees.

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Outcomes of critically ill adult patients with continuous renal replacement therapy-requiring acute kidney injury in the Free State province of South Africa: the impact of HIV

African Journal of Nephrology ◽

10.21804/20-1-1510 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Seydou Nourou Camara ◽

Mogamat-Yazied Chothia

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Acute Kidney Injury ◽

Renal Replacement Therapy ◽

Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy ◽

Replacement Therapy ◽

Critically Ill ◽

Kidney Injury ◽

Free State ◽

Free State Province ◽

The Impact

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Drought Characterization and Trend Detection Using the Reconnaissance Drought Index for Setsoto Municipality of the Free State Province of South Africa and the Impact on Maize Yield

Water ◽

10.3390/w12112993 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 2993 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hadisu B. Abubakar ◽

Solomon W. Newete ◽

Mary C. Scholes

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Drought Index ◽

Rate Of Change ◽

Free State ◽

Trend Detection ◽

Maximum Temperature ◽

Large Variability ◽

Reconnaissance Drought Index ◽

Free State Province ◽

The Impact

The reconnaissance drought index (RDI) for the Setsoto municipality of the Free State province in South Africa was calculated for the period between 1985 and 2019 at 3 month (October–December), 6 month (October–March), and 12 month (October–September) intervals. Rainfall and minimum and maximum temperature data from four weather stations (Clocolan, Ficksburg, Marquard, and Senekal) were used for this study to characterize drought using “DrinC” software together with the Mann Kendall test with Sen’s slope to detect drought trends and the rate of change. Extreme, severe, and moderate droughts were recorded for all the stations, with RDIs ranging from −3.6 to −1.0 at different temporal scales. The years 1991, 1994, 2006, 2011, and 2015 were highlighted using the RDI 3, 6, and 12 month calculations. Results showed that the yield decreased either in the year of the drought or in the subsequent year, due to the exact timing of the low-rainfall events in the season and soil moisture storage. Yields were low, on average 2.5 tons ha−1 year−1, with high variability. Optimal growing conditions are essential in the early part of the season, October–December, for maximizing yield; if droughts are experienced at this time then the yield is more greatly impacted than if the droughts occur later in the season. Spatial analysis shows a large variability of drought patterns across the Municipality, over the years, with the 3 month RDI values giving a more detailed picture of this variability than the 6 and 12 month RDI values.

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USING DRONE TECHNOLOGY, PHOTOGRAMMETRY, AND VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE ANALYSIS OF REMOTE AND INACCESSIBLE CLASSIC LOCALITIES: THE VERTEBRATE-DEFINED PERMIAN–TRIASSIC SECTION ON THE BETHEL FARM, FREE STATE PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

10.1130/abs/2018am-318053 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy R. Stonesifer ◽

◽

Ruofei Jia ◽

Robert A. Gastaldo ◽

Johann Neveling

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Free State ◽

Free State Province

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Assessment of the Dissimilarities of EDI and SPI Measures for Drought Determination in South Africa

Water ◽

10.3390/w13010082 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 82

Author(s):

Omolola M. Adisa ◽

Muthoni Masinde ◽

Joel O. Botai

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Correlation Coefficient ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Standardized Precipitation Index ◽

Drought Monitoring ◽

Drought Indices ◽

Drought Severity ◽

Pearson Correlation Coefficient ◽

Drought Duration

This study examines the (dis)similarity of two commonly used indices Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) computed over accumulation periods 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month (hereafter SPI-1, SPI-3, SPI-6, and SPI-12, respectively) and Effective Drought Index (EDI). The analysis is based on two drought monitoring indicators (derived from SPI and EDI), namely, the Drought Duration (DD) and Drought Severity (DS) across the 93 South African Weather Service’s delineated rainfall districts over South Africa from 1980 to 2019. In the study, the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity and periodogram dissimilarity estimates were used. The results indicate a positive correlation for the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity and a positive value for periodogram of dissimilarity in both the DD and DS. With the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity, the study demonstrates that the values of the SPI-1/EDI pair and the SPI-3/EDI pair exhibit the highest similar values for DD, while the SPI-6/EDI pair shows the highest similar values for DS. Moreover, dissimilarities are more obvious in SPI-12/EDI pair for DD and DS. When a periodogram of dissimilarity is used, the values of the SPI-1/EDI pair and SPI-6/EDI pair exhibit the highest similar values for DD, while SPI-1/EDI displayed the highest similar values for DS. Overall, the two measures show that the highest similarity is obtained in the SPI-1/EDI pair for DS. The results obtainable in this study contribute towards an in-depth knowledge of deviation between the EDI and SPI values for South Africa, depicting that these two drought indices values are replaceable in some rainfall districts of South Africa for drought monitoring and prediction, and this is a step towards the selection of the appropriate drought indices.

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