scholarly journals Possibilities and Pitfalls with Establishing a National Data Store for Natural Science Collections

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e27244
Author(s):  
Brenda Daly ◽  
Reuben Roberts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Data Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Data Store ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Impact On Biodiversity ◽  
Biodiversity Information

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has initiated the development of the National Biodiversity Information System to provide access to integrated South African biodiversity information. The aim of the project is to centrally manage all biodiversity information to support researchers, conservationists, policy and decision-makers in achieving their goals, support planners in making sensible decisions, and help SANBI understand the anthropogenic impact on biodiversity. The project is set to deliver a centralised web-based infrastructure to capture, aggregate, manage, discover, analyse and visualise biodiversity data and associated information through a suite of tools and spatial layers. The infrastructure is a Microsoft technology stack with microservices component architecture (http://microservices.io/patterns/microservices.html), which is vital to building an application out of small collaborating services, stemming from integrating the enterprise system. SANBI conducted a review of the data holdings of the individual herbaria and museums in South Africa. The intention is to have a federated approach to data management, exposing what is available as a collection but ensuring that each individual natural science collection has full ownership and management control over their data within a defined framework and governed by internationally accepted data policies and standards. The presentation highlights the opportunities and unexpected difficulties with developing a national botanical and zoological collections data management service in South Africa.

scholarly journals Biodiversity Data Curation: South Africa Goes Online

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e25840
Author(s):  
Willem Coetzer ◽  
Alexandra Holland ◽  
Ian Engelbrecht
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Information Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Data Curation ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
Biodiversity Data ◽  
Voucher Specimens ◽  
Data Centres ◽  
Biodiversity Information

The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) operates several research platforms, which may be used by the broader South African research community (e.g. a marine research vessel and a remotely operated underwater vehicle). SAIAB’s Enterprise-grade data centre, along with expertise in systems administration and biodiversity information management, allow the institute to offer a Biodiversity Information Management Platform. Data hosted by SAIAB is replicated across three data centres, with each centre being at least 250m apart and operating independently. Infrastructure at two data centres replicates in real time, forming a high availability cluster. The third datacentre is dedicated to storing backups. High-capacity tape backup will be added in the near future. As an additional measure, cloud storage is used to store daily extracts of Specify databases, which are retained for one year. In the first instance, the Platform aims to provide SAIAB researchers and associates with biodiversity data curation services. This begins with support for the SAIAB Collections Division, to ensure that voucher specimens, tissue samples and associated media are accurately catalogued and can be easily retrieved. Biodiversity data curation is broader than this. It also means that any biodiversity data/metadata (records of species, events, occurrences/observations and traits) can potentially be curated using Specify Software, and standardised and published (subject to relevant policies) to the GBIF Data Portal using the GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit. The use of Specify Software to curate biodiveristy data that do not represent voucher specimens (e.g. underwater images and video) is a new research project within SAIAB, which has the potential to be extended beyond SAIAB. A new national initiative, the Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF), was launched in 2017 to reinvigorate natural science museums across the country, to halt deterioration of specimens and improve capacity for specimen and data curation. In support of the NSCF, the SAIAB platform is offered to natural science museums in South Africa (excluding herbaria, which are all part of or affiliated with SANBI, and therefore accommodated by a different system). Each museum will be provided with a webserver, Specify 7 database, Specify web portal and IPT server. In offering this platform to the broader South African Biodiversity Science community, SAIAB is primarily motivated by the potential for collaborative research in capacity development for biodiversity data curation / information management, using Specify Software. The first research project will examine participating museums’ capacity to use the Specify Workbench sustainably, to import new voucher/occurrence records generated by fieldwork. The requisite training to enhance this potential will be provided. The Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF) is an important collaborator in the context of enhancing the general state of South Africa’s specimen collections, and the Specify Collections Consortium is an important collaborator, specifically for support.

The Everyday in a Time of Transformation: Exploring a Single South African Lifeworld after 20 Years of Democracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
P. Conrad Kotze ◽  
Jan K. Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Ontological Turn ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Epistemological Framework

Transformation has come to be a defining characteristic of contemporary societies, while it has rarely been studied in a way that gives acknowledgement to both its societal effects and the experience thereof by the individual. This article discusses a recent study that attempts to do just that. The everyday life of a South African is explored within the context of changes that can be linked, more or less directly, to those that have characterized South Africa as a state since the end of apartheid in 1994. The study strives to avoid the pitfalls associated with either an empirical or solely constructivist appreciation of this phenomenon, but rather represents an integral onto-epistemological framework for the practice of sociological research. The illustrated framework is argued to facilitate an analysis of social reality that encompasses all aspects thereof, from the objectively given to the intersubjectively constructed and subjectively constituted. While not requiring extensive development on the theoretical or methodological level, the possibility of carrying out such an integral study is highlighted as being comfortably within the capabilities of sociology as a discipline. While the article sheds light on the experience of transformation, it is also intended to contribute to the contemporary debate surrounding the current “ontological turn” within the social sciences.

Performing Theatre and Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Leila Henriques
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Performance Ethnography ◽  
Theatre History ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Perspective

This collection of performances that is linked to this chapter was created as part of the MA exchange project between NTNU and DFL (Drama for Life). Students used performance ethnography as a method for generating performance material in answer to the challenge of building democracy through theatre. South Africa has a rich theatre history that has always engaged with the South African political narrative. Through developing an understanding of the many theatre-making processes that created this unique history, as well as through exploring other contemporary South African performances, students created and tracked their own research methodology so that they were able to hold up a mirror to the world around them. While each performance captured the individual perspective of the performer, they also engaged directly and indirectly with broader South African realities. The course consisted of four components, each shaped by the individual’s journey into their own research methodology. These were: generating material, interpreting the material, rehearsing the material and performing the material. This submission consists of a framing statement written by the lecturer as well as a collection of ten performances that include a short framing statement from each performer. Permission was obtained from all the students to showcase their work apart from one student who has submitted it under a pseudonym. Out of this exploration and through a practical laboratory, students created an embodied experience that addressed the notion of democracy. The value of the work was to gain a fresh embodied perspective of democracy in South Africa. It spoke to our unique South African theatre-making legacy, but also challenged and disrupted our understanding of what democracy is and how it might be performed.

scholarly journals Depression in the South African workplace

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Marthinus P. Stander ◽  
Margreet Bergh ◽  
Helen Elizabeth Miller-Janson ◽  
Janetta C. De Beer ◽  
Frans A. Korb
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
South African ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
The South ◽  
Anxiety Group ◽  
Prevalence Of Depression ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder and can be costly, having a significant impact on the individual and employers. The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) in partnership with HEXOR, with the support of Lundbeck, undertook research into depression in the workplace, because South African information is not available on this topic. It provides insight into the prevalence of depression within the workplace in South Africa, as well as the impact of depression on the employees and employers in terms of sick leave and levels of productivity, especially when the symptoms include cognitive impairment. It is apparent that stigma plays a pivotal role in the reasons for non-disclosure to employers. It further highlights the magnitude of awareness, early detection and the provision of a holistic support system within the work environment, free from bias, to ensure that optimum benefit can be achieved for both employer and employee.

scholarly journals Towards A Bill of Rights for a Democratic South Africa

1991 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albie Sachs
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
World Community ◽  
African People ◽  
Constitutional Level ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual

All revolutions are impossible until they happen; then they become inevitable. South Africa has for long been trembling between the impossible and the inevitable, and it is in this singularly unstable situation that the question of human rights and the basics of government in post-apartheid society demands attention.No longer is it necessary to spend much time analysing schemes to modernize, reform liberalize, privatize, or even democratize apartheid. Like slavery and colonialism, apartheid is regarded as irremediably bad. There cannot be good apartheid, or degrees of acceptable apartheid. The only questions are how to end the system as rapidly as possible and how to ensure that the new society which replaces it lives up to the ideals of the South African people and the world community. More specifically, at the constitutional level, the issue is no longer whether to have democracy and equal rights, but how fully to achieve these principles and how to ensure that within the overall democratic scheme, the cultural diversity of the country is accommodated and the individual rights of citizens respected.

Who is responsible for protecting my health during the COVID- 19 pandemic?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlien Kallmeyer ◽  
Melvin A Ambele ◽  
Chrisna Durandt ◽  
Graeme Ford ◽  
Simone Grobbelaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
South African Government ◽  
Infected Person ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual

Since the report of the first COVID-19 infected person in South Africa, COVID-19 moved from being a distant threat to a new reality overnight. Metaphorically, COVID-19 could be described as rain, and in order to be protected one would need to stand under an umbrella. The fundamental question that stems from this is who is holding this protective umbrella? Is the government holding the umbrella or are we holding the umbrella? In this article/commentary/perspective, we briefly discuss the responsibility of the South African government and the individual during this global pandemic, the reasoning behind the implementation of lockdown and the consequences thereof. We conclude that both government and citizens need to cooperatively take responsibility and work together to fight COVID-19. The protective umbrella needs to be held by both government and by ourselves.

scholarly journals Beliefs of grade six learners’ regarding adolescent pregnancy and sex

Curationis ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Grobler ◽  
Y. Botma ◽  
A.C. Jacobs ◽  
M. Nel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Adolescent Pregnancy ◽  
South African ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
Subjective Norm ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Sexually Active ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
The Individual

Escalating adolescent pregnancy and risky sexual behaviour is becoming more common amongst young adolescents and especially amongst black adolescents in South Africa. Statistics confirm that South African adolescents as young as fourteen are already sexually active and become pregnant. The decision to become sexually active with resulting adolescent pregnancy whether planned or not, are directly influenced by the teenager’s beliefs. A person’s beliefs consist of a person’ own individual beliefs or attitude as well as what the individual subjective norm which the individual perceive as other people’s beliefs regarding the same object of reason. The aim of the study was to describe the attitude of black grade six learners under the age of fourteen, towards adolescent pregnancy and sex. A quantitative descriptive research design was used. Results were clustered according to demographic variables as well as beliefs that consist of attitude and subjective norm.

scholarly journals Are South African financial advisor addressing the estate planning objectives that are important to their client?

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-131
Author(s):  
J.M.P. Venter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Financial Advisors ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Estate Planning ◽  
Financial Advisor ◽  
Expectation Gap ◽  
Financial Plan ◽  
The Individual

Estate planning is an important aspect of any effective financial plan. When preparing an estate plan several objectives identified by the individual planner, as well as several pieces of legislation have to be considered. In South Africa the actions of financial advisors are regulated by the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. The act aims to ensure that the financial advisor act in the best interest of his / her client. If the act meets its set objectives there will be an alignment of objectives set by a financial advisor and his / her client. This study investigates the existence of an expectation gap between the estate planning objectives considered to be important by the financial advisor and the importance allocated to these factors by the clients. The study found that there was an expectation gap for three of the objectives that should be considered in the estate plan.

scholarly journals Science, stigmatisation and afro-pessimism in the South African debate on AIDS

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Vega Sanabria
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
The South ◽  
Global Epidemic ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Summary This paper examines how certain assumptions concerning sexual behaviour, race and nationality emerge at the core of explanations regarding the origin of HIV. In particular, it returns to discussions of the so-called "AIDS debate" in South Africa in the 2000s. On the one hand, it focuses on how these assumptions reinforce the understanding of AIDS as stigma and "social problem", to the extent that they emphasise the existence of geographical areas and "risk groups". On the other, these same assumptions are examined in the light of processes of identification and belonging, given that in the majority of reports, both academic and popular, "Africans" and "Africa" are inexorably understood in pessimistic terms. The purpose is to show how certain aspects of the South African debate refer to the way the global history of AIDS has been constructed over the past three decades. An exhaustive historiographical reconstruction is not attempted here, rather by returning to some works on the genesis of the epidemic, the paper highlights the individual and collective stigmatisation related to the public health discourse on AIDS, particularly such notions as "risk", "exposure" and "vulnerability". The proposal is such notions are strongly informed by a moral sense that traverses the dominant cognitive model in the approaches to the global epidemic and the AIDS debate in South Africa. The last part of the article focuses on the tensions that emerge between the explanations of experts from the field of public health and the contributions of social scientists, particularly anthropologists, frequently questioned for their alleged cultural relativism.

South African Christian Experiences: From colonialism to democracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelebogile Thomas Resane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
African Women ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Church

Theologically and historically sound, Resane’s South African Christian Experiences: From Colonialism to Democracy, envisions a robust Christianity that acknowledges itself as “a community of justified sinners” who are on an eschatological journey of conversion. This Christianity does not look away from its historical sins and participation in corruption and evils such as Apartheid. Resane argues that failing to adhere to Jesus’ teachings is not a reason for Christianity to recede from public life. Rather, doing so further pushes Christianity away from Jesus who emphatically called for the Church to engage in the liberation of society. By framing how the Christian must engage with his/her community as a component to belief – that saying must mean doing for belief to happen – Resane frames his theology as an eschatological clarion call for internal and social renewal, an interplay between the individual Christian, the communal churches of Christ, and society at large. Dr J. Sands – Northwest University “Drawing from our own wells” is a prophetic call for theologians to develop context specific liberation theologies drawn from their own contexts, history, experiences, and different types of knowledge. This book locates its loci in the historical and contemporary context in South Africa, as well as drawing from the rich legacy of liberation theologies including African, Kairos, Black, Circle and many other theologies to address contemporary issues facing South Africa. Resane’s book contributes towards enhancing the much needed local theologies of liberation based on contextual realities and knowledges. Dr Nontando Hadebe – Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians South African Christian Experiences: From Colonialism to Democracy captures the societal binaries that are part and parcel of Christianity, especially in the African context. The definition of God is also affected by these binaries, such as, is God Black or White? The book proposes both the non-binary approach, and the process of inculturation. The work also shows how not to have one theology, but different theologies, hence references and expansions on the Trinity, Pneumatology, Christology, etc. Furthermore, this work portrays Christ as seen from an African point of view, and what it means to attach African attributes to Christ, as opposed to the traditional Western understanding. Rev. Fr. Thabang Nkadimeng – History of Christianity, University of KwaZulu Natal Resane has dug deep into the history of the church in South Africa, and brought the experiences of Indigenous people and Christians, including theologians, to the attention of every reader. The author demonstrates an intense knowledge of the history of Christianity. He also portrays that there is still more to be done, both from the Christian historical perspective and the theological perspective for the church to be relevant to all the contexts in which it finds itself. Prof. Mokhele Madise – Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, University of South Africa

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