Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Apr 2010Green roofs are roofs that have been covered with a growing medium, creating a habitat on what would otherwise be a bland, lifeless surface. It is for this reason that green roofs are sometimes call 'vegetated' or 'living' roofs (Cantor 2008). ...Read more
Author:Smith, Andrew CDate:Apr 2010Various modes of tangible interfaces have been explored and researched. In this paper we limit our look at tangible user interfaces to a subset of these. The subset is characterised by portability and no attached tethers, be they mechanical ...Read more
Author:Bosilong, KP; Mbecke, PDate:May 2010This chapter begins with a brief tour of South Africa's justice and political systems, demographics and discourses of race. The brief narrative, which will also allude to situations in Apartheid South Africa, is meant to aid understanding of ...Read more
Author:Sivakumar, V; Tesfaye, M; Alemu, W; Sharma, Ameeth; Bollig, C; Mengistu, GDate:May 2010In this study, the authors present the climatological picture of aerosols over South Africa using 20 years of Stratosphere Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE-II) satellite, 6–10 years of AErosol RObatic NETwork (AERONET) and ground based mobile ...Read more
Author:Ittmann, HW; Sarma Yadavalli, VSDate:Jun 2010The history and current activities of the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA) is presented in this chapterRead more
Author:John, Maya J; Thomas, SDate:Jun 2010Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on earth- has emerged as an ideal candidate for providing nanoparticles as reinforcing agents. There is a growing interest in cellulose nanocomposites within the research community and especially if the ...Read more
Author:Bright, G; Tlale, NS; Kumile, CMDate:Aug 2010Modular mechatronics systems comprise of mechatronics sub-systems that are functionally complete and can be independently operated. These sub-systems can be readily fitted and connected to, or in combination with, additional sub-systems. ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Aug 2010By recognising the specific environmental challenges facing South Africa, mindful of the government‘s commitment to reducing South Africa‘s Greenhouse gas emissions, and acknowledging the need to build social cohesion, the Green Building ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Aug 2010The building envelope plays a significant role in the performance of a building, especially with regard to the green building components. This chapter will focus on the external building envelope only, i.e., sub-structure, super structure, ...Read more
Author:Engelbrecht, F; Landman, WDate:Aug 2010South Africa's climate is described for each season, and how the climate is affected by topography. Synoptic systems contributing to the variations in weather and climate we observe is also described.Read more
Author:Engelbrecht, F; Landman, WDate:Aug 2010The projections of southern Africa's future temperature and rainfall projections as produced by a global circulation model are described.Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Aug 2010Water scarcity is without a doubt on of the greatest threats to the human species and has all the potential to destabilise world peace. Falling water tables are a new phenomenon. Up until the development of steam and electric motors, deep ...Read more
Author:Conradie, Dirk CUDate:Aug 2010South Africa is blessed with some of the best quality solar radiation in the world. In the light of this many exciting opportunities exist to utilize the sun to its full potential in the design of energy efficient buildings. Passive solar ...Read more
Author:Oelofse, Suzanna HHDate:Sep 2010The institutional framework for government in South Africa was established in 1996 with the adoption of the first democratic Constitution. National, provincial and local government was established as three elected spheres of government, each ...Read more
Author:Debba, PraveshDate:Oct 2010This chapter discusses the methodology of using simulated annealing in deriving optimal sampling schemes to target a specific mineral, for example, alunite.Read more
Author:Wall, KDate:Oct 2010The critical roles of engineering in addressing the large-scale pressing challenges facing our societies worldwide are widely recognized. Such large-scale challenges include access to affordable health care; tackling the coupled issues of ...Read more
Author:Wall, KDate:Oct 2010Capacity building needs to relate to specific norms and standards, the achievement of which is, or should be the objective of building the capacity. Putting it simplistically, it should be ascertained what activities, what services, what ...Read more
Author:Wall, KDate:Oct 2010In December 2008, the CEBC met in Brasilia and began work on a framework for a "guidebook for capacity building in the engineering environment" and an associated compendium of programmes and initiatives. This guidebook has subsequently been ...Read more
Author:Vincent, K; Cull, T; Archer, Emma RMDate:Oct 2010It is well-known that women in developing countries tend to be more dependent on natural resources than men, and that female-headed households tend to rely more on agricultural livelihoods than male-headed households. Climate change is projected ...Read more
Author:Van Wyk, Llewellyn VDate:Nov 2010The super-structure consists predominantly of the load- and no-load-bearing walls-including all doors and windows and suspended floor slabs. The building envelope plays a significant role in the performance of a building, especially with ...Read more