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<p>This study focuses on the future role and nature of an e-voting system for a future electoral system in South Africa. The study is of the view that rapid technological advancement and opportunities may contribute to efficient and effective e-voting systems. The study will investigate the international experience where initiatives have been undertaken, particularly in countries like the USA, the Netherlands, India, and Nigeria. Lessons born out of experience have been identified to highlight best practice and potential problems to be avoided in our future elections. As an outcome, the study indirectly seeks ways to increase turnout, particularly amongst the youth, increase voting access (everywhere and anytime), cost effectiveness and availability of quick national election results.</p> <p><br /> The primary objective of this study has been to develop future options for the planning and design of an e-voting for South Africa. From the outset of this research, the critical issue was not only about e-voting, but rather the planning and designing of an e-voting system. Suffice it to say that the central issue about e-voting was not whether electronic voting should be developed but how and in what ways it should be designed and planned for successful implementation. Interestingly enough, this question has been bothering the IEC as well, particularly pertaining to planning (see 1.5.3). In a nutshell, it is against this background that experts on elections were interviewed. The research investigation found that many problems still existed in South African elections. This research found that both participation and communication are the main pillars in any policy or project.</p> <p><br /> The study revealed that e-voting would appeal to younger voters and will subsequently boost turnout in SA. In a nutshell, this study found that members of the public and election experts were in favor of telephone voting and SMS, Internet voting, and EVMs. However, it was noted that rural communities would benefit in the long run from e-voting because they are still faced with an infrastructure backlog. Proper planning supported by sound planning principles need to be done to ensure that a e-voting in SA will be made successful and specific recommendations were made in this regard.</p>

The modes of action of a diamine salt of fatty acid with a general structure of [RNHz+(CHz)JNH3+(R'COO-)z], referred to as a multifunctional additive (MFA) in carbon black and silica filled natural rubber (NR) compound have been studied. The mechanical properties have been enhanced by incorporating the MFA. Optimum mechanical properties for the natural rubber filled with carbon black compound are obtained at an MFA level which is estimated to give complete monolayer coverage of the carbon black surface. Studies on silica filled NR show a much higher optimum MFA level than for carbon black filled compounds, which is attributed to a different orientation of the MFA molecules at the silica-rubber interface. The MFA molecules may stand on the filler surface with their polar sites attached to its surface, giving rise to a much higher monolayer value. Filler dispersion, measured by computer-aided image analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), showed that MFA gives improved dispersion at equivalent mixing time. The effect of the MFA on crosslink density of carbon black filled NR compounds was found to be small, in contrast to silica filled NR compounds, where the increase in crosslink density enhanced properties significantly. Techniques to examine the properties of compounds with and without MFA at equivalent levels of filler dispersion have been developed. Results show that, in addition to the improvement in filler dispersion, increased energy dissipation at the rubber-MFA-filler interfaces improves tear and tensile strength. A mechanism of adsorption to explain the mode of action of the MFA at the elastomer/filler interface has also been proposed.