Networks In South Africa Research Articles

Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Production Networks: Insights from Flower Valley in South Africa

This paper proposes dialogue between postcolonial theory and the analytical frameworks of global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks (GPNs). It does so in order to open up more culturally sensitive accounts of global supply networks and exporting localities than those provided by prevailing political-economic approaches. Particular focus is placed on Zein-Elabdin's postcolonial notion of economic hybridity to advance understanding of the institutional contexts shaping production networks. The value of applying this concept to GVC/GPN studies is illustrated in the case of a sustainable wildflower harvesting supply network in South Africa's Western Cape, which supplies ethically promoted bouquets to domestic and European markets. Transnational cultural politics, including those associated with colonial encounters, are shown to shape the hybrid institutional context of this production network. It is suggested that such a perspective on institutional hybridity offers just one fruitful conversation between postcolonial approaches and GVC/GPN frameworks.

A qualitative study into the modus operandi, investigation and prosecution of organ trafficking networks in South Africa and Kosovo

A qualitative study into the modus operandi, investigation and prosecution of organ trafficking networks in South Africa and Kosovo

A Qualitative Study Into the Modus Operandi, Investigation and Prosecution of Organ Trafficking Networks in South Africa and Kosovo.

A Qualitative Study Into the Modus Operandi, Investigation and Prosecution of Organ Trafficking Networks in South Africa and Kosovo.

Decision support for Foodbank South Africa

This paper employs a combined 'soft-hard' OR approach to aid decision making in the area of allocation at a not-for-profit organization, Foodbank South Africa (FBSA), that represents the largest hunger-relief network in South Africa. Two problem-structuring tools, causal mapping and root definitions (RDs) are utilized. Causal mapping is used to identify areas for useful research within FBSA, and gain a greater understanding of the organization in terms of its goals and consequently a good appreciation of the context in which decisions are made. Root definitions are employed to acquire a better understanding of the 'decision-issues' within the allocation system at the Cape Town warehouse. A simulation model is developed to imitate daily allocation decisions, with the end-objective of assisting decision-making by developing a range of allocation policies. A decision support system (DSS) is developed to help FBSA manage their agency database, automate some of the daily allocation decisions and simulate allocation policies.

Propagule pressure drives establishment of introduced freshwater fish: quantitative evidence from an irrigation network

Propagule pressure is recognized as a fundamental driver of freshwater fish invasions, though few studies have quantified its role. Natural experiments can be used to quantify the role of this factor relative to others in driving establishment success. An irrigation network in South Africa takes water from an inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) scheme to supply multiple small irrigation ponds. We compared fish community composition upstream, within, and downstream of the irrigation network, to show that this system is a unidirectional dispersal network with a single immigration source. We then assessed the effect of propagule pressure and biological adaptation on the colonization success of nine fish species across 30 recipient ponds of varying age. Establishing species received significantly more propagules at the source than did incidental species, while rates of establishment across the ponds displayed a saturation response to propagule pressure. This shows that propagule pressure is a significant driver of establishment overall. Those species that did not establish were either extremely rare at the immigration source or lacked the reproductive adaptations to breed in the ponds. The ability of all nine species to arrive at some of the ponds illustrates how long-term continuous propagule pressure from IBWT infrastructure enables range expansion of fishes. The quantitative link between propagule pressure and success and rate of population establishment confirms the driving role of this factor in fish invasion ecology.

Stationary wavelet transform and single differentiator based decaying DC-offset filtering in post fault measurements

This paper presents a novel scheme for removing a decaying DC-offset from both current and voltage measurements irrespective of the time constant.The technique is based on stationary wavelet transform (SWT) cascaded with a differentiator. The performance of the scheme on two study cases is investigated; the statistical performance in relation to noise on a hypothetical signal, and a modeled segment of a utility network in South Africa. The proposed scheme is practically applied by testing it on a real life data obtained from Eskom’s network. The result shows that the scheme is robust, and that it can remove any DC-offset. The output of the scheme can be used for fault detection, classification and location.

Investigating an effective supply chain for a refinery in a regulated petroleum sector

Currently, refined petroleum products are manufactured by six refineries in South Africa. The supply of refined petroleum products is supplemented by imports of refined petroleum products. These refined petroleum products are transported by pipeline, rail, road, sea and a combination thereof to depots across the country. These products are then distributed directly to commercial customers through points of resale in the form of retail service stations. The challenge is that the storage facilities and distribution networks in South Africa are currently utilised to its full capacity. There is a need to expand current storage infrastructure or to erect new storage facilities to facilitate imports. Durban Port that currently handles 70% of the country’s crude oil and 40% of refined products is also utilised to its full capacity. The investigated problem pertains to the limited storage and transport capacity available for the distribution of petroleum products in the country. The interview protocol, which was based on the literature reviewed, was used for compiling the primary data for the case study. Selected findings revealed that the respondents perceived that storage capacity is the most significant constraint militating against adequate supply by the supply chain. The findings also indicated that the respondents were of the opinion that transport rates and routes (cost of logistics) are the greatest contributor to the prices of products. As a result, there appears to be a major scope for improvement in terms of the usage of pipelines and rails for the movement of petroleum products.Keywords: Petroleum products, storage facilities, supply chain, transportation, South African energy sector.Disciplines: civil engineering, architecture, business studies, energy studies

Channels of interaction in health biotechnology networks in South Africa: who benefits and how?

The promotion of university-industry linkages in developing countries is contested, given high levels of poverty, inequality and human development needs. A recent research trend offers new insights that can shift the terms of debate and inform differentiated policy approaches in a more contextually appropriate way. The focus is a framework to analyse the benefits and risks associated with different channels of university-firm interaction. The paper analyses case studies of diverse channels of interaction in the health biotechnology sector in six research groups based in two South African universities, a sector prioritised for its potential to enhance global competitiveness and address social problems. Analysis demonstrates the complexity of the ways in which combinations of channels are engaged in the practice of health biotechnology research groups to meet multiple economic and intellectual goals. The framework requires further refinement, but points to the importance of targeted policy attempts not only to support those channels that are likely to have the greatest benefits, but equally, to mitigate the risks of specific channels, particularly the social risks to knowledge generation and diffusion or to growing a new industrial sector.

An analysis of corporate board networks in South Africa

In this paper we analyse the networks created from directors sitting on the boards of companies in South Africa. We consider two projections of this network: a director network, in which only directors are present and two directors are linked if they sit together on one or more common boards; and a firm network, in which only firms are present and an edge indicates that the two firms share one or more directors. We describe these networks in terms of the statistical properties that they possess, and compare them to theoretical values obtained under various random network models. The network analysis is the first to be applied to a relatively small emerging economy like South Africa. We find that many of the features previously found to hold for highly-developed countries also apply here, suggesting that corporate networks may be fairly robust to stages of economic development.

A comparison of rainfall estimation techniques for sub-Saharan Africa

Interpolated rain-gauge data were compared to Meteosat-based precipitation estimates for sub-Saharan Africa. Validation was carried out using a dataset from a very dense gauge network in South Africa, on a point-to-pixel (PO–PI) as well as on a pixel-to-pixel (PI–PI) basis. Error criteria computed at the gauged pixels indicate that overall the interpolated estimates perform similarly to the satellite-based data: they provide good estimates of lower but underestimate larger precipitation amounts. It is concluded that the satellite estimates are more fitted for the operational modelling of processes such as surface runoff and soil erosion, especially in the developing areas where resources are scarce.

Adjusted Haar wavelet for application in the power systems disturbance analysis

Abrupt change detection based on the wavelet transform and threshold method is very effective in detecting the abrupt changes and hence segmenting the signals recorded during disturbances in the electrical power network. The wavelet method estimates the time-instants of the changes in the signal model parameters during the pre-fault condition, after initiation of fault, after circuit-breaker opening and auto-reclosure. Certain kinds of disturbance signals do not show distinct abrupt changes in the signal parameters. In those cases, the standard mother wavelets fail to achieve correct event-specific segmentations. A new adjustment technique to the standard Haar wavelet is proposed in this paper, by introducing 2n adjusting zeros in the Haar wavelet scaling filter, n being a positive integer. This technique is quite effective in segmenting those fault signals into pre- and post-fault segments, and it is an improvement over the standard mother wavelets for this application. This paper presents many practical examples where recorded signals from the power network in South Africa have been used.

Application of Abrupt Change Detection in Power Systems Disturbance Analysis and Relay Performance Monitoring

This paper describes the application of the abrupt change detection technologies to detect the abrupt changes in the signals recorded during disturbances in the electrical power network of South Africa for disturbance analysis and relay performance monitoring. The aim is to estimate the time instants of the changes in the signal model parameters during the prefault condition, after initiation of fault, after the circuit-breaker opening and autoreclosure, etc. After these event-specific segmentations, the synchronization of the different digital fault recorder recordings are done based on the fault inception timings. The synchronized signals are segmented again. This synchronized segmentation is the first step toward automatic disturbance recognition, facilitating further complex feature vector analysis and pattern recognition. Besides, the synchronized, segmented recordings can be directly used to analyze certain kinds of disturbances and monitor the relay performance. This paper presents many practical examples from the power network in South Africa

The design of a logical topology for a terabit wide-area optical network in South Africa

A novel approach, based on statistical clustering using the Ward linkage as similarity metric, is proposed for designing optical network logical topologies. The geographic distribution of network traffic is taken into consideration, through a modified gravity model that uses regional economic activity to predict network demand. The intra/inter cluster traffic ratio is introduced as a tool for determining the number of hub nodes on the backbone of the multi-level network model. The proposed approach is demonstrated through the design of a logical topology for a hypothetical terabit wide-area optical network in South Africa.

Organising cluster cooperation and learning networks in South Africa

Bill Freund's work on cities has stressed a number of themes, important amongst these have been the necessity to take the social and economic processes within them as forces in their own right. Whi...

Risk Factors and Characteristics of Patients with AcutePlasmodium falciparum Malaria Presenting to a Private Hospital Network in South Africa

Malaria is endemic in much of southern Africa. Every year, large numbers of South Africans are infected, either in the malaria-endemic border regions in the north-east of the country or during visits to neighboring countries. In 2000, 61,934 cases of malaria and 423 deaths were notified to the Department of Health in South Africa. The South African population can be divided into two distinct socioeconomic groups,and consequently two very distinct populations at risk of malaria;a predominantly impoverished rural community who almost exclusively use government medical facilities, and a more affluent urban community who utilize private, often state-of-the-art, medical care. Most of the population living permanently in the malaria-endemic area of the country belong to the former category. Whereas malaria prophylactic medication is seldom financially affordable for rural South Africans, wealthier urban dwellers usually have the means to obtain advice, preventive medication and sophisticated therapy. Most studies of malaria in South Africa have focused on the epidemiology and clinical presentation of malaria in the socioeconomically deprived group.

Abrupt change detection in power system fault analysis using adaptive whitening filter and wavelet transform

This paper describes the application of the adaptive whitening filter and the wavelet transform used to detect the abrupt changes in the signals recorded during disturbances in the electrical power network in South Africa. Main focus has been to estimate exactly the time-instants of the changes in the signal model parameters during the pre-fault condition and following events like initiation of fault, circuit-breaker opening, auto-reclosure of the circuit-breakers. The key idea is to decompose the fault signals, de-noised using the adaptive whitening filter, into effective detailed and smoothed version using the multiresolution signal decomposition technique based on discrete wavelet transform. Then we apply the threshold method on the decomposed signals to estimate the change time-instants, segmenting the fault signals into the event-specific sections for further signal processing and analysis. This paper presents application on the recorded signals in the power transmission network of South Africa.

Implementing CommunityPeace and Safety Networksin South Africa

Peace education initiatives often import American models and techniques without careful consideration of their fit with existing sociohistorical contexts, indigenous cultures, and necessary links to community. This article describes a 2-year project that instituted school- and community-based mediation programs as Community Peace and Safety Networks in the Gauteng region of South Africa. Qualitative research processes were used to conduct needs assessments and develop cultural sensitivity that increased the success of the project. The potential role of formative and summative evaluation research to enhance respect for context, culture and community are discussed in relation to peace education efforts.

INTERLENDING AND DOCUMENT SUPPLY: A REVIEW OF RECENT LITERATURE: III

Topics covered in this literature review include: on‐line document ordering, electronic mail, an on‐line network in South Africa, and document supply in Austria; the provision and supply of documents in Scandinavia; interlending statistics from France; national interlending system in Brazil; the relationship between collection size and interlending demand; the use of interlending data as a guide to acquisition; and some broader thoughts on the function and economics of interlending.