M.Phil. (Energy Studies) / Southern Africa is a major source of regional aerosols and trace gases from biomass burning, and this creates a need for experimental validation and systematics of the magnitude and frequency of aerosol transport episodes affecting the atmosphere of the region. This study links surface measurements of biomass burning atmospheric aerosols and trace gases with air mass trajectory analysis to determine transport pathways for periods of high and low concentrations. The hypothesis of this study is that from chemical signatures of trace gases and aerosols, as well as trajectory analyses, it is possible to identify sources of these emissions from industrial, traffic, marine and biomass burning activities. Consequently, frequencies, durations, intensities and seasonal variations of trace gases can be established. The study aims to interpret the long-term atmospheric monitoring record from a remote monitoring station at Botsalano (North West Province, South Africa) to determine the origin, frequencies, durations, intensities and seasonal occurrences of aerosol/haze episodes influencing the atmosphere of southern Africa. A suite of trace gas analysers and a Differential Mobility Particle Sizer (DMPS®) were used to measure ground level trace gas and aerosol quantities. MATLAB® scripts were used in performing quality assurance and processing to provide a working set of data from which different fire periods could be selected. Fire signatures, based on excess CO above average tropospheric levels and episodes of enhanced particulate matter concentrations in the 10 to 200 nm range, were identified using MATLAB® scripts and Excel®. Altogether 36 plumes were accepted as biomass burning plumes. Twenty-nine fire plumes had weak signals with excess CO ratios ranging between 0.07 and 0.32; seven plumes had strong signals ranging between 0.41 and 0.64. The occurrence of identified biomass burning plumes was high in the dry season from May to October (83%) and low (17%) during the wet season from November to April. Four pathways were identified for the long-range transportation of biomass burning aerosols to the site: easterly, south-westerly, re-circulation and northerly modes, with occurrence frequencies of 39%, 31%, 22% and 8%, respectively. Anti-cyclonic circulation was observed over southern Africa and was evident in the re-circulation and Indian Ocean slow modes. CO and Aitken-mode aerosol number intensities were generally larger for fire emissions arriving in the easterly and south-westerly air masses when compared with those arriving in re-circulation and northerly air masses. Easterly and south-westerly flows were dominated by Aitken-mode aerosol, whereas accumulation mode particles dominated in the re-circulation and northerly modes. Consequently, easterly and south-westerly flows transported emissions from young/fresh fire plumes, with source regions probably close to Botsalano. Re-circulation and northerly flows were responsible for transport of rather aged plumes from more distant regional fires. Based on forward trajectories, this study revealed that the 2006/2007 measurement period exhibited transport features of a La Niña ENSO during which transport of biomass v burning aerosols towards the south in the Indian Ocean slow and Indian Ocean fast modes was most frequent. This study is significant in that it complements earlier studies of regional aerosol transport over the sub-continent and adds to the understanding of the regional scale generation and transport of trace substances through the atmosphere. Furthermore, the study combines a technique for identifying enhanced CO concentrations as a unique identifier of large scale biomass combustion events with the use of the Aitken-mode particle number densities and size distributions. This technique reveals aspects of aerosol growth dynamics through the changing size distributions, thereby adding fresh insights normally not available through conventional particle volume/mass concentrations measurements.

Regional community in southern Africa has been limited to the region’s states. As a result, deeper notions of community emanating from non-state actors, particularly transnational social movements, continue to be ignored. In an attempt to transcend state centrism, this thesis highlights alternative forms of regional community by exploring the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), one of southern Africa’s biggest and fastest growing cross-border movements. The ZCC is a potential agent for developing regional community from the bottom-up, driving a people-oriented regional integration approach in southern Africa. The ZCC, with its extensive following among the region’s poor, offers a compelling example of a grassroots and truly bottom-up approach to regional community. This thesis explores the possibility of the ZCC as a model of alternative community and identity centred on people’s daily experiences and grounded in a shared history and solidarity. It seeks to highlight the significance of transnational movements like the ZCC to policy makers in the region and it argues that grassroots communities are marching ahead of SADC member states and politicians in the area of integration. There exists a transnational cooperation amongst followers of the ZCC and other grassroots communities across the region and this cooperation transcends the traditional notion of state sovereignty, thereby highlighting deeper notions of what it means to be a community at regional level.

Berkheya Ehrh. is a genus of daisies in the tribe Arctotideae, subtribe Gorteriinae with over 80 species, most of which occur in southern Africa. This genus has centres of diversity associated with the montane regions of South Africa, including the Drakensberg Alpine Centre and Mpumalanga escarpment regions. Previous molecular and morphological studies indicate that Berkheya is paraphyletic. I present phylogenies based on nrDNA (ITS; Internal Transcribed Spacer) and cpDNA (psbA-trnH) sequence data analysed with Bayesian Inference and Parsimony. A phylogeny of combined cp- and nrDNA is also presented. These phylogenies are used to assess generic limits and to investigate the biogeographic patterns of Berkheya and its allies. The ITS phylogeny shows five well supported clades of Berkheya, two of which (Clades I and 2) are monophyletic summer rainfall region clades. Clades 3 to 5 are all paraphyletic winter rainfall clades with Cullumia occurring in the third clade, Cuspida occurring in the fourth and Didelta in Clade 5. Both psbA-trnH and combined phylogenies show concordance with the clade distribution shown in the ITS phylogeny. The ITS phylogeny was used to analyse correspondence with Roessler’s (1959) Series. It was found that the phylogeny showed considerable agreement with Roessler’s series, but B. bipinnatifida and B. spinosa of Series Speciosae may require some revision as well as taxa of monotypic series Cruciatae and Angustae. It is suggested that the latter series be merged with Cullumia species to form a single series. Some consideration should be taken to include Didelta species into Series Fruticosae as Didelta occurs in subclade 5b of Clade 5 with other Series Fruticosae taxa. Achene morphology was examined from species from each of the five clades to investigate the relationships of Berkheya and its allies, as well as to determine if there were any consistent achene features for each clade. The structure of surface cells on the fruit, the presence, absence and morphology of twin hairs as well as the structure of the pappus scales were found to be most useful in reflecting phylogenetic relationships within the clades. When compared with the clades of the ITS phylogeny, achene morphology showed consistent characters between taxa occurring in the same clades. As the most comprehensive study involving Berkheya, this phylogenenetic investigation was able to confirm that Berkheya is a paraphyletic genus with Didelta, Cullumia and Cuspida needing to be subsumed into Berkheya. An alternative classification is that taxa of Clade 5 could possibly be erected as an expanded Didelta, separate and sister to Berkheya.

It is currently hypothesised that the chokka squid (Loligo reynaudi) consist of a single stock. This was tested through a spatial comparison of the morphology of this species. Forty three morphometric characters were measured from 1079 chokka squid collected from three regions: the south coast of South Africa, the west coast of South Africa, and southern Angola. While no significant differences were found for the hard body parts, results from discriminant function analyses showed the soft body morphometric characters from each of the three regions differed, with an overall correct classification rate of 100% for males and 99% for females in all three regions. Due to the existing model being used to assess the resource currently being updated it was not feasible to apply this model to the area-disaggregated data from this study. Rather, the CPUE trends and catches from the area-disaggregated data were compared against those of the area-aggregated data, as a first attempt to discern any appreciable differences which would suggest the use of disaggregated data in future assessments. Both the trawl and jig CPUE trends from the area-disaggregated analysis differed only slightly from those of the area-aggregated data. Similarly, the spring and autumn biomass trends for the main spawning area (east of 22°E) followed the same trends as for the full area. It is therefore concluded that there is currently no need to assess the resource on an area-disaggregated basis.

The purpose of this study is to examine the programming of religious education in Southern Baptist institutions of higher education, including a comparison of current religious education programs, the articulation between college and seminary religious education programs, and the identification of future trends that these programs may follow. From these findings, the following conclusions were drawn: Religious education is apparently considered important enough to be included in the curriculum of Southern Baptist colleges. The evaluation of the role of the institution in training students for careers in religious education has been a vital factor in changes that have been made in the programs. Programs designed to grant credit for work done prior to seminary enrollment are being favorably, although not unanimously, received. Additional undergraduate religious education programs appear to be likely, should programs granting credit for previous work develop. Exploration into the development of other means for the granting of credit would bring improvement in the cooperative relationships between the colleges and the seminaries. From these conclusions, the following implications were derived: Southern Baptist schools will continue to train persons for church-related vocations. Attitudinal changes must occur, both among the college and the seminary leaders, before major changes will be made. If changes in the articulation of the college and seminary programs are to be made, seminary leaders are in the best position to lead in such changes. The designing of a prerequisite program for entry into a seminary master's degree program in religious education might be considered as a key to the articulation between graduate and undergraduate programs.

That natural resources (NRs) are important to those experiencing adversity, and, especially, vulnerability associated with HIV/AIDS, is well documented, particularly with respect to food and energy security. What is unclear is where HIV/AIDS ranks in terms of its significance in comparison to other household shocks, the role local ecological knowledge may (LEK) play in households' response to shock, a propos the types of coping strategies that are employed. Consequently, this research aims to bridge the knowledge gap between HIV/AIDS and the degree to which it is contributing to the expansion of NR commercialisation and to explore the unknowns surrounding the influence of LEK on people's choice of coping strategy. A two phase study was designed to provide quantitative rigour with qualitative depth. Phase one was an extensive, rapid survey of NR traders within urban and rural settings in five southern Africa countries. The principle objective was to profile the trade, the livelihoods of those involved and their reasons for entering the trade, to ultimately establish to what degree HIV/AIDS may have been a catalyst for this. Almost one third of the sample entered the trade in response to illness and/or death in their households, with 80% of deaths being of breadwinners. The findings illustrated considerable dependence on the sale of NRs; for almost 60% of the sample it was their household's only source of income. There was evidently increased blurring of the lines between rural and urban NR use with a greater diversity of products being traded in urban areas. Phase two involved in-depth interviews and work with a smaller sample at two sites selected based on the findings from the first phase. It incorporated three groups of households; non-trading, inexperienced trading and experienced trading households. Key areas of focus were household shocks, coping strategies employed in response to these and the role LEK may be playing in the choice of coping strategies. Within a two year period, 95% of households registered at least one shock, of which 80% recorded AIDS-related proxy shocks. Non-trading households were significantly worse-off in this regard, while in the case of non-AIDS proxy shocks, there was no such difference between groups. The most frequently employed coping strategy was the consumption and sale of NRs and was of particular importance when households were faced with AIDS proxy shocks. Trading households emerged as having superior levels of LEK in comparison to non-trading households, even for non-traded NRs, suggesting that prior LEK of NRs opened up opportunities to trade in NR as a coping strategy. Further inspection of the latter group however revealed that the portion of non-trading households who traded on a very ad hoc basis actually had comparable levels of LEK to the trading households. Despite the ad hoc trading households' vulnerable state and their disproportionately high level of AIDS proxy measures, they had at their disposal, sufficient LEK to unlock certain key coping strategies, namely the NR trade. In this sense there are apparent linkages between LEK, HIV/AIDS and the expansion of the commercialisation of NRs.

This thesis examines regional integration in Southern Africa and the evolution of SADC. Regional developments are evaluated with the yardsticks of integration theory, against the background of international regionalisation, and in terms of the region's practical record, its rhetoric and future agenda. The extent to which economic integration is progressing, is determined, after which the thesis focuses on political integration within SADC - both de Jure and de facto. Finally, developments within the region are evaluated in light of normative prerequisites for increased political integration. The thesis finds that the integration process in SADC does not fit into traditional integration theory, and concludes that successful economic integration in the region is not necessarily a prerequisite to political integration, but would facilitate it. The research finally concludes that there is evidence of embryonic political integration within SADC, which will wane or grow depending primarily on the political will of its constituents / Political Science / M.A. (Politics)

Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The study broadly assesses the usefulness of available digital spatial land resource data as a source for agritourism and ecotourism information by comparing the inventory of available spatial data sets for South Africa and the SADC region, with the needs for spatial data as derived from a literature study of travel motivations and demand determinants. Spatial land resource data have been collected, processed and stored for agricultural planning purposes, like land suitability assessment, agricultural production and infrastructural planning. Given a) the growth in agritourism and ecotourism, b) the more detailed information required by tourists to aid them during decision making processes like destination selection and c) the progress in information technology rendering access of information via the internet easier; the question arose whether the available land resource digital data can be processed to provide relevant tourism information on internet websites. Four tasks had to be done, namely: a) identifying tourists’ needs by means of a literature study on travel motivations and demand determinants; b) identifying the land resource data sets that could be processed into information to meet these identified needs; c) determining the accessibility of spatial information on internet tourism websites to potential agritourists and ecotourists, and d) exploring opportunities for adding value by looking at what information existing websites are offering in comparison with what can be obtained from repackaging the land resource data. Common ground was found between the spatial tourist information needs and the available spatial land resource data. This, coupled with the ability of combining meteorological and other humanmade environmental data in GIS modelling, suggests that repackaging land resource data seems to have the potential to offer useful tourism information in correspondence with confirmed tourist information needs.

This study was concerned with characteristics of the process of reaffirmation of accreditation in the Southern region among institutions that completed reaffirmation under the revised _Criteria for Accreditation_ and those that completed reaffirmation under the former _Standards of the College Delegate Assembly._ The institutions that had completed reaffirmation under the new _Criteria_ were identified. A matching group of equivalent institutions which had last completed reaffirmation under the _Standards_ was created. Each group contained 66 institutions. Data were collected using the records of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Four areas were identified in which the implementation of the _Criteria_ might affect the process of reaffirmation of accreditation: (a) institutional organization for the self-study, (b) visiting committee composition, (c) number of recommendations by visiting committees, and (d) substance of recommendations by visiting committees. A series of nine hypotheses were tested to assess these effects. The process of reaffirmation of accreditation does not appear to have been substantially affected by the implementation of the new _Criteria for Accreditation._ Institutional organization for the self-study appears unaffected by the implementation of the Criteria for most institutions. There appears, however, to be evidence that the _Criteria_ have effected change for a minority of institutions. The implementation of the _Criteria for Accreditation_ does not appear to have influenced either the size or the composition of visiting committees of peers. The implementation of the _Criteria for Accreditation_ has not increased the average number of recommendations by visiting committees of peers, but there appears to be evidence that it has created a minimum core of recommendations common to many institutions. The addition of the criterion on institutional effectiveness apparently has created a new and proportionately overrepresented focus for visiting committee recommendations.

The species richness, abundance and composition of saproxylic Coleoptera was compared between 'old-growth' and mature-managed hemlock-hardwood forests in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Beetles were sampled weekly from 29 April until 3 October 2003 using large-area flight-intercept traps (FITs) and trunk-window traps (TTs). Analyses were conducted using the Fisher's alpha and Simpson's diversity indices, rarefaction, indicator species analysis and cluster analysis. A total of 11,888 fungivorous Coleoptera was collected from 11 families and 73 species (excluding Nitidulidae). Nitidulidae were analysed separately with traps yielding 2,129 sap beetles comprising 30 species. The species richness and abundance of fungivorous Coleoptera did not differ significantly between the two forest types. Conversely, the species abundance of nitidulid beetles was higher in managed forests and the species richness higher in 'old-growth' forests. Several species were strongly associated with either managed or 'old-growth' forest types. Certain species such as Anisotoma inops (Leiodidae) and Glischrochilus sanguinolentus (Nitidulidae) were much more frequently caught in TTs than in FITs.