First Phase of an Endocrine Research Programme for South African Water Systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E.B Burger
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
South African Water

First Phase of an Endocrine Research Programme for South African Water Systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.E.B Burger ◽  
A.P.M Moolman
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Integrated Research ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting ◽  
The Status ◽  
Research Facilities ◽  
South African Water

This project was aimed to develop an integrated research programme for Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals(EDCs) for South African water systems. Although some research was conducted in South Africa, it was done at selected research facilities and was uncoordinated and fractionated. It was deemed in national interest to coordinate these efforts in an integrated research program in order to optimize the limited resources and maximize the information gathered in the integrated programme. This would lead to better knowledge and understanding of the status of contamination in the country and would lead to informed decisions by the governing bodies to manage the possible contamination. No information was available on the occurrence, frequency and magnitude of exposure to EDCs or the effect of EDCs on the human population and wildlife of the country. A research programme has been developed and a surveillance study done to determine the capability of the laboratories identified to participate in the programme and to determine the occurance of EDCs in selected water resources sites. EDC activity was detected at all sites and chemical analysis confirmed the presence of EDCs. In related studies EDC effects have been noticed in animals (Fish, birds and Eland). The need for an extended research programme at the WRC on EDCs was confirmed and recommendations were made for the future phases of the EDC research programme

scholarly journals Onderwysstudente se parodieë as hibridiese tekste: ’n navorsingsverslag

Literator ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
E. Kruger
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Research Report ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Education Students ◽  
No Man's Land ◽  
Teacher Education Students

Parody as hybridic text: research report Parody can be seen as one of the techniques of selfreferentiality through which a consciousness of the context dependency of meaning is revealed in an aesthetic way. This article explores the theoretical background of parody as literary style against which the researcher challenged a group of teacher education students in a research programme to generate their own parodies. The task required that they choose a well-known fairy tale and use its structure to mock their own society. Students of another group were asked as the writers’ peers to read the stories in order to engage in a dialogue between encoder and decoder in the process of reception. The educational aim of the programme was to equip students to reflect critically and react creatively to social, political and economic issues that surround them. Furthermore, the researcher wanted to discover how these texts would generate a flexibility, fluency and hybridity in relationship with the students’ cultural identity and how they would project their own liminality in a no-man’s land between youth and adulthood. Analysis and interpretation of the parody texts revealed themes of late capitalism, materialism and consumerism, as well as typical student cultural manifestations of language usage and some of their existing attitudes toward the South African political society in post-apartheid. The students’ parodies have intertextual density with imitation and subversion of the original text contexts and values. The writers used a variety of stylistic techniques to generate double-voiced narratives as manifestation of literary creativity.

Overview of the water policy process in South Africa

Water Policy ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 505-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christo De Coning
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
The South ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
South African Water

This research article provides an overview of the policy process followed by the South African Government in developing and implementing the White Paper on a National Water Policy for South Africa between 1994 and 2003. The research is based on a report published by the South African Water Research Commission (WRC), which formed part of a project entitled: Consolidation and Transfer of Knowledge and Experience Gained in the Development and Implementation of Water and Related Policy in South Africa (WRC Project number K5/1295). An attempt was made in the research project to solicit lessons of experience from the last ten years and to suggest findings regarding future options. It was found that valuable experience exists that is relevant not only to present and future policy and strategy initiatives in South Africa but also to policy process development in a regional and global context. The review of the water policy process has included a deliberate attempt to apply a selected policy process model to the South African water policy process in order to attempt a systematic analysis of the process. Specific findings were made regarding policy and strategy processes, institutional capacity and policy research in the water sector. The findings of the study included a confirmation of the technical quality of the policy and identification of several opportunities and priorities in the implementation of water policy.

scholarly journals The use of photocatalytic degradation to improve the quality of crude refinery effluent

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dushen Bisetty Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Photocatalytic Degradation ◽  
South African ◽  
Catalyst Concentration ◽  
Phenol Degradation ◽  
Degradation Process ◽  
Effluent Treatment ◽  
Optimum Conditions ◽  
Effluent Quality ◽  
Refinery Effluent ◽  
South African Water

Water plays a fundamental role in sustaining life on Earth. Water is largely used by industries to support their processes and utilities. Through growing industrialisation, each year more and more wastewater is generated and the demand for water rises rapidly. The incorrect and unsustainable use of water is placing a great strain on the South African water supply. Much emphasis is now being placed on industries re-using and treating their effluent and wastewater. Of recent, government has placed stringent specifications for industrial effluent quality and industry find it difficult to continuously improve their effluent quality to be within acceptable limits. Crude refineries are major contributors to wastewater, producing effluent comprising largely of Oil, grease and hydrocarbon. Much focus is placed on finding alternate means of wastewater treatment to assist with the removal of oil and hydrocarbon contaminants. More effluent treatment processes need to be explored to ensure industries operate in a sustainable manner and do not place unnecessary strain on the South African water supply. Photocatalytic degradation is a wastewater treatment technique that has drawn a lot of attention in the last decade. This is an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) which involves the production of a hydroxyl radical (OH-) which is then used for the degradation of organic contaminants. The degradation converts the organic pollutants into CO2 and H2O. A synthetic crude refinery effluent was developed and underwent the photocatalytic degradation process. The catalyst concentration was varied at 2 g/L, 5 g/L and 8 g/L. The oxidation reaction took place over time intervals of 30, 60 and 90 minutes and aeration to the reaction vessel was supplied at 0.768 L/min, 1.11 L/min and 1.48 L/min. This photodegradation took place under UV light conditions. The degradation process was conducted with the aim of evaluating the degradation of oil and phenol in crude refinery effluent. Sulphates were also monitored to observe if an effect was noticed. Design of Experiment (DOE) involved the development of experimental run matrices for a multilevel factorial design, Central Composite Design (CCD) and Box-Behnken Design (BBD) model. Randomized runs were then conducted as per the design matrix for each model. Model verification and evaluation was then conducted and the best suited degradation models were selected. It was observed that the best fitted model for the degradation of oil in water was the BBD. The best design model for phenol degradation was the CCD. Throughout the photocatalytic degradation process, it was noted that no change took place with the sulphates. The models were then optimised to determine the optimum degradation conditions. This was carried out using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) techniques. The CCD model yielded a combined oil and phenol degradation of 71.5%. This occurred at a catalyst concentration of 2.07g/L, a run time of 90 minutes and an air flow rate of 0.768L/min. The BBD model produced a combined oil and phenol degradation of 68%. This took place at a catalyst concentration of 2 g/L, a run time of 30 minutes and an air flow rate of 1.04 L/min. pH were monitored throughput the degradation process and both these models yielded output products within the stipulated pH band. The testing of a local crude refinery effluent was conducted using the CCD and BBD optimum conditions. When using the CCD optimum conditions degradation of 76.98% and 84.21% was observed for both oil and phenol respectively. The BBD optimum conditions yielded a degradation of 83.33% for oil and 78.95% for phenol. This indicated that the photocatalytic process can be considered for degrading crude refinery effluent as its products met the specifications of municipal industrial waste water. The above results clearly indicate a positive outcome for the treatment method of photocatalytic degradation on the synthetic crude refinery effluent. This technique can therefore be further explored when considering crude effluent treatment and the treatment advantages should be used by all industries to improve effluent quality and allow for more sustainable and environmentally friendly operations.

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