Journal articles on the topic 'CSIR (South Africa)'

Pollution is a complex and wide subject. It is endeavoured to categorize it in manageable subdivisions. Since very little information is available on the expenditure on research by the industry, the paper concentrates on the expenditure by the public sector. Research on water pollution is funded by the WRC, the CSIR and the Departments of Water Affairs and Health. The latter is the main source of funds for air-pollution research. The Department of the Environment funds several projects on the abatement of pollution, especially by solid wastes. Some universities conduct research on pollution abatement. With reference to some projections of future developments, the conclusion is reached that much more funds are needed to combat pollution.

In South Africa the ultimate goal in water quality management is to keep the water resources suitable for all “beneficial uses”. Beneficial uses provides a basis for the derivation of water quality guidelines, which, for South Africa, are defined in Water quality guidelines for the South African coastal zone (DWAF, 1991). The CSIR has developed a practical approach to marine water quality management, taking into account international trends and local experience, which can be applied to any coastal development with potential influence on water quality. The management plan is divided into three logical components, i.e. • site-specific statutory requirements and environmental objectives; • system design with specific reference to influences on water quality; and • monitoring programmes. Within this management approach water quality issues are addressed in a holistic manner, through focused procedures and clear identification of information requirements. This paper describes the procedures and information requirements within each component of the water quality management plan, with specific reference to marine disposal systems. Ideally, the management plan should be implemented from the feasibility and conceptual design phase of a development and the timing of the different procedures within the development process are therefore also highlighted. However, the logical lay-out of procedures allows for easy initiation (even to existing disposal system) at any stage of development.

Three data sources (physico-chemistry, bio-monitoring and eco-toxicology) are currently used in South Africa to establish environmental water quality conditions. Environmental water quality in turn is key information required for the “ecological reserve determination” of river reaches. Bio-monitoring in South Africa has been limited in recent times mostly to the use of the SASS procedure which relies on invertebrates only. This paper describes the re-introduction of a diatom-based water quality assessment as an added-value bio-monitoring tool. A specific example is discussed citing the response of diatom assemblages to diffuse pollution from acid mine drainage and how effective diatoms are as indicators of ecological integrity and river recovery measured downstream of the area of impact. The advantages of applying this bio-monitoring technique over other biological measures are presented in the context of technological advances in rapid image processing, species identification and software applications of diatom-based water quality indices. The valuable records of the diatom assemblages of the past, held in the South African Diatom Collection at the CSIR (KwaZulu-Natal), can now be accessed and interpreted as historical environmental water quality reference points for several rivers in South Africa.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) transportable Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) was used to collect data over Durban (29.9°S, 30.9°E) during 20–23 November 2012. Aerosol measurements have been carried out in the past over Durban; however, no cloud measurements using LIDAR have ever been performed. Therefore, this study further motivates the continuation of LIDAR for atmospheric research over Durban. Low level clouds were observed on 20–22 November 2012 and high level clouds were observed on 23 November 2012. The low level cloud could be classified as stratocumulus clouds, whereas the high level clouds could be classified as cirrus clouds. Low level cloud layers showed high extinction coefficients values ranging between 0.0009 and 0.0044 m−1, whereas low extinction coefficients for high level clouds were observed at values ranging between 0.000001 and 0.000002 m−1. Optical depth showed a high variability for 20 and 21 November 2012. This indicates a change in the composition and/or thickness of the cloud. For 22 and 23 November 2012, almost similar values of optical depth were observed. Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) revealed high level clouds while the CSIR LIDAR could not. However, the two instruments complement each other well to describe the cloudy condition.

The last two decades have been marked by a dramatic increase in global attention to the concept of governance, especially in relation to the effective and sustainable management of natural resources. Furthermore, South Africa has been through a rapid transition to democracy since 1994 with significant changes in government, society and within the legislative environment. Despite the highly desirable attributes of these landmark pieces of legislation, almost a decade after their promulgation South African government authorities are still struggling to implement the requirements of these Acts. An investigation by the South African CSIR into the reasons for the non-implementation indicated that an incomplete understanding of the importance of governance was a central reason for the lack of successful implementation and that the concept of “governance” had not really been fully defined or explored. Countries and regions differed in their understanding and interpretation of “governance”, whilst equally wide differences were recorded in countries that had different levels of socio-economic and political development. In an effort to unpack the so-called “black box” of governance, a group of international specialists were invited to review governance issues related to their areas of technical specialization, covering different levels of development and maturity of democracy. Each specialist was challenged to interrogate a new “Trialogue” hypothesis on governance. A selection of the manuscripts is published in this special edition of Water Policy entitled Ecosystem Governance in Africa.

Away back in 1953 few people in the world, let alone South Africa, knew or had heard about membrane desalination, but there was an increasing awareness that electrodialysis had considerable potential for the desalination of brackish water. In South Africa the development of the new gold fields in the northern Orange Free State and the problems posed by the presence of excessive volumes of very saline mine waters stimulated interest in desalination and the CSIR* in collaboration with the mining industry became involved in the development of the electrodialysis process. By 1959 the largest brackish desalination plant in the world had been built and commissioned. South Africans were thus in the forefront of this technology, even to the extent of making the required membranes locally. Our historical review of membrane development and the applications of membrane technology in Southern Africa encompasses both pressure- and voltage-driven processes. Examples of the pressure processes are microfiltration, ultrafiltration and charged membrane ultrafiltration or nanofiltration, and finally reverse osmosis with fixed and dynamically formed membranes. The voltage-drive processes considered are electrodialysis and electrodialysis reversal.

The recently completed report on “The removal of urban litter from stormwater conduits and streams” (by Armitage et al.) notes that little data is available on the nature and quantity of litter that finds its way into the stormwater drainage systems. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) estimated in 1991 that 780 000 tonnes of waste a year was entering the drainage systems of South Africa, representing a potential removal cost in excess of two billion rand. There is thus a considerable need for finding ways to reduce litter loadings through better catchment management. Although suggestions have been made as to how this might be achieved, there is very little scientifically verified data from anywhere in the world to show that any of these proposed methods would be effective in South Africa. Only through an improved knowledge of the litter loadings in South African urban drainage systems can appropriate strategies to reduce litter loadings be arrived at. This improved knowledge is one of the twin objectives of the Water Research Commission Project No. K5/1051 entitled “The reduction of urban litter in drainage systems through integrated catchment management.” Under this project a three-year monitoring programme has been instituted in nine catchments covering a range of different land uses, socio-economic levels and densities in the Cape Metropolitan Area. This paper focuses on the methodology behind the monitoring programme and the objectives it is hoped to achieve.

Dr Math is an online math tutoring service hosted by the CSIR Meraka Institute in South Africa, which aims to support secondary school learners with Mathematics. The service is predominantly accessed through the mobile social networking service MXit. Since 2007, students from the Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) at the University of Pretoria, have been assisting “Dr Math” in fulfillment of a compulsory undergraduate module, Community-Based Project. They have supported 28,000 registered users in user initiated interactions. This purpose of this paper is to describe the mobile scaffolding environment and scaffolding practices as well as the tutor support that enhance the Dr Math service as a sustained example of mobile learning.

The CSIR-Ti process produces titanium metal powder through continuous stepwise metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) in molten salt medium, and represents a cost-effective alternative to the standard Kroll process to produce titanium metal. Subsequent to proving the CSIR-Ti process at bench scale producing batches of ±2 kg titanium powder, the design, build and test of a continuous 2 kg/h Ti pilot plant was authorised. The scale-up process highlighted limited expertise in South Africa with regards to handling molten salt and molten reducing metals. Such gaps in knowledge are addressed in this study, which discusses a number of the engineering challenges faced and solutions developed around agitation of molten salt reactors, process pipe heating and insulation, molten salt flow measurement and also feeding of a highly reactive molten reducing metal. Scaling up the CSIR-Ti process, with requirements of continuous operation, compact size, effective agitation, pumping and maintaining salt in the molten state brought an unusual set of challenges requiring development of unique and prototype equipment. Further challenges were encountered in the handling and continuous feeding of molten reducing metal at the relatively small scale of the pilot plant. Solutions developed and discussed in this study include custom-modified agitators, custom-developed flow meters for measuring molten salt and molten metal flows, and a custom-designed molten metal feed system. Specialised materials such as, ultra-high temperature heating tape and ultra-low thermal conductivity insulation had to be imported as well as a special high-temperature pump that can pump a slurry consisting of molten salt containing a high weight percentage of suspended metal powder. The experience illustrates the technological difficulty of bridging the chasm between science and technology in that many unforeseen problems are encountered when developing and scaling up a new technology.

Performance measurement in the public research sector is complex because of the need to configure stakeholder expectations with operational efficiency. The paper investigates the appropriateness of a performance measurement framework (PMF) in a state controlled research organization in South Africa. A case study method, combined with a survey, is used to test the research questions. The results indicate that the public sector PMF incorporated a checklist of critical success factors, it was sustainable and performance measures had been developed for all the stakeholders. Furthermore, the results indicated that the PMF had facilitated the achievement of the division’s strategic objectives, as well as ancillary objectives like motivation, learning and decision making at a local operations level. Finally, the results suggest that it may be possible to create a generic form of public sector research PMF that is based on the balanced scorecard.

In South Africa there is a great need to upgrade the accessibility of rural areas. With the aid of the heavy-vehicle simulator (HVS), the Gauteng Department of Transport and Public Works and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) investigated the upgrading of in situ gravel roads to the paved standard through addition of a gravel bonding surface layer only. The HVS program consisted of nine tests in which loading and environmental conditions were varied. The results of this investigation indicated that loading and environmental conditions were the dominant influences on the behavior of superlight pavements. An interim transfer function for the design of superlight pavements based on the results of the investigation is provided, together with recommendations for optimization of the transfer function.

I contribute to the ‘political CSR’ debate on whether companies can or should fill public governance gaps by exploring how related business–government interactions may result in corporate social irresponsibility. I studied interactions between mining companies and the government in South Africa between 2002 and 2012, focusing on processes that contributed to the deterioration of living conditions in the Marikana area, site of an infamous massacre in 2012. The analysis resulted in a process model of dynamic de-responsibilization, in which business–government interactions progressively dissipate the adopted and enacted social responsibilities of both the government and business. This extends extant critiques of political CSR and elaborates CSiR as not only a systemic, but also a processual phenomenon, and it focuses related scholarly and practical attention on problematizing the government’s role as custodian of democratic accountability.

After evaluating many different routes to produce titanium, the CSIR of South Africa selected a process to produce titanium powder continuously via metallothermic reduction of TiCl4 in molten salt. The project risks are being managed using the well-known STAGE/GATE method. The first two stages, viz, Route Selection and Preliminary Assessment have been completed and the next stage entailing campaigns extending over several days of uninterrupted operation, producing titanium at a rate of about 2 kg/h has recently begun. The rationale for selecting the process route is briefly reviewed and key process problems that had to be solved before embarking on scale-up and measures to do so are explained. Specific problems are: • Feed line blockages, • Titanium product formation and adherence to reactor internals, • Agglomerate formation; and • Production of very fine particles. Lastly the planned schedule and current status of the project are discussed.

Semi-solid processing works on the principal of a solidification temperature interval of a substance. The substance is heated to a temperature within this interval so that there exists a related solid-liquid fraction ratio. The substance with this phase structure is then shaped by a forging or casting process. It has been stated before that it is impossible to semi-solid process and cast pure metals or eutectic alloys due to their thermodynamic temperature invariance, meaning that there is no temperature interval. It was demonstrated recently that it is possible to semi-solid casting high purity aluminium (Curle UA, Möller H, Wilkins JD. Scripta Materialia 64 (2011) 479-482) and the Al-Si binary eutectic (Curle UA, Möller H, Wilkins JD. Materials Letters 65 (2011) 1469-1472). The working principal is that there exists a time interval during thermal arrest during which solidification takes place with a solid-liquid fraction ratio until all the liquid is consumed upon cooling. The aim with this work is to demonstrate that pure magnesium can also be rheo-high pressure die cast (R-HPDC) with the system developed at the CSIR in South Africa. Magnesium is notoriously difficult to cast due to the thermal properties of magnesium. The metal was poured into a cup, processed for about 6 seconds after which it was HPDC into a plate. The microstructure of the casting consists of a structure that was solid and a structure that was liquid during thermal arrest at the time of casting.

The Zebra battery is one of the most promising power sources for electric vehicles which might be on sale before the year 2000. It is a South African development which started at the CSIR and is at present jointly managed by the Anglo American Corpora­tion of S.A. and the German company A.E.G. The chemical reaction converts common salt and nickel to nickel chloride and sodium during the charging phase.

Through focused investment by the CSIR, the South African Innovation Fund, the Automotive Industry Development Centre and the Department of Science and Technology over the past eight years, the national Light Metals Development Network has been established and grown into a well aligned collaborative research and development programme. The research and development focus has been primarily on aluminium and titanium technologies as applied in the automotive and aerospace industry sectors, with the latter growing in prominence over the past three years. Since 2009 the titanium-related research and development activities have been consolidated in a Titanium Centre of Competence. This paper provides an overview of the current status of the programme, the R&D focus areas, the collaborating entities and the industry involvement. It also highlights some of the significant achievements of the network and notable outputs produced. The Titanium Centre of Competence as a vehicle for strengthening industrial research and innovation capabilities in specific fields of technology is discussed and some initial experiences are shared.

At risk of committing entomological heresy, we question the identity of a dung-burying beetle species that originates from Africa and has been introduced first into Hawaii and subsequently to Australasia, North America, and South America (Fincher 1986; Edwards 2007; Noriega et al. 2010) for pasture improvement and biological control of dung-breeding flies (Waterhouse 1974; Bornemissza 1979). Under the name Onthophagus gazella (Fabricius 1787), it was the first species selected for introduction into Australia by the CSIRO Dung Beetle Project (Bornemissza 1976; Edwards 2007). Firstly, in 1968, a "tropical strain" was introduced from Hawaii where it had become established after introduction from Zimbabwe in 1957 (Markin & Yoshioka 1998). Later, after establishment of the CSIRO Dung Beetle Research Unit in Pretoria in 1970, a "cold" or "even rainfall strain" was introduced into Australia directly from South Africa (Bornemissza 1976) (even rainfall region = south coast of Eastern Cape). The species was subsequently introduced into the southern continental United States of America (Victoria County, Texas) from Hawaii (Montes de Oca & Halffter 1998) then elsewhere into southeastern and southwestern states from Hawaii and breeding colonies from Australia (Anderson & Loomis 1978). It has since expanded its range through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to coastal Colombia (Kohlmann 1994; Noriega 2002; Noriega et al. 2006, 2011). Expansion of its range within central southern South America (Noriega et al. 2010) has been assisted by introductions into Brazil from the United States of America since the 1980s (Bianchin et al. 1998), and others into Venezuela and Chile (Vidaurre et al. 2008). More recently, it has been introduced into quarantine and field trials in New Zealand (Forgie et al. 2013) using individuals originating from the south coast of the Eastern Cape and Northwest Province of South Africa (S. Forgie, personal communication).

This article reviews employee HIV and AIDS-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by small business in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The article aims to present a comparative snapshot of how SMMEs are responding to the epidemic as a basis for developing a CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries. The article applies an exploratory literature review methodology to extract data from secondary sources. Research findings show that HIV and AIDS-related CSR in Zimbabwe appear disengaged from the direct influence of corporate business, the opposite of what South African SMMEs experience. In South Africa, SMME CSR practices experience pressure from large firms. However, differences in economic status between the two countries show no effect on the CSR behaviors of SMMEs in both countries when compared with each other. In both countries, findings reveal that SMMEs hardly establish HIV and AIDS policies and therefore rely on informal CSR practices to assist employees to deal with the pandemic in the workplace. Thus, the article submits that while HIV and AIDS practices are not formalized in both countries, SMMEs fulfil their epidemic-related CSR obligations towards employees’ corresponding with their smallness. In conclusion, the study recommends an empirical examination of the research question to establish a grounded recommendation for the development of a SMMEs CSR framework that could be implemented by SMMEs in both countries.

The POLYCHAR 16: World Forum on Advanced Materials, organized by the University of Lucknow, was held from 17 to 21 February 2008 in the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The annual POLYCHAR conferences have been sponsored by IUPAC for several years and are known for combining the broad field of materials sciences with a clear focus on polymeric materials (the name "POLYCHAR" is derived from the term "polymer characterization"). POLYCHAR 16 was supported by many scientific associations and industries such as IUPAC, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) (Trieste, Italy), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) (India), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (India), Reliance Industries Ltd. (India), Department of Science and Technology (India), Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Uttar Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (UPCST) (India), Lucknow Chapter, Materials Research Society of India (MRSI), and University of Lucknow.As in past years, POLYCHAR puts emphasis on the quality of research presented - in contrast to maximizing the number of participants. The areas covered include nanomaterials and smart materials; natural and biodegradable materials and recycling; materials synthesis; polymers for energy; rheology, solutions, and processing; mechanical properties and performance; characterization and structure-property relationships; biomaterials and tissue engineering; dielectric and electrical properties; surfaces, interfaces, and tribology; and predictive methods. Symptomatically, the number of papers on "green" science was higher than at POLYCHAR 15 last year in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro.There were a total of 292 registered participants from 35 countries (Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Fiji, UK, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Mauritius, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, South Africa, Ukraine, USA, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela). This reflects the philosophy of POLYCHAR to provide an international forum to encourage young scientists and advanced students to present their scientific work and give them the opportunity to meet with colleagues and well-known scientists to discuss their results, exchange experiences, and make new contacts, in particular, international ones. Many industrial contacts and much international cooperation with exchange of students and scientists have resulted from this and earlier POLYCHAR meetings.This conference volume represents only a small fraction of the multitude of contributions from different parts of materials science - 48 oral contributions and 170 posters. Many of the contributions have review character, some represent excellent original contributions. Only a small number could be selected for this volume because of the limited space that is available. All this was possible with the sponsorship of IUPAC. Highlights of the conference were the Paul J. Flory Research Award (ex aequo) to Prof. Jiasong He, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; the International Materials Research Award to Dr. Rameshvar Adhikari, Tribhuvan University, Katmandu, Nepal; and numerous awards for young scientists and students, including the IUPAC Poster Award. Special Prof. Brar's 60th Birthday Celebration Awards were given to IUPAC poster prize winners.The next POLYCHAR will be hosted by Jean-Marc Saiter, University of Rouen, Rouen, France in April 2009.Poonam TandonConference Executive Secretary and Co-editor

The wheat leaf rust resistance gene Lr32 was transferred from Aegilops tauschii Coss. to bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (1). Despite virulence for Lr32 in some isolates from Bulgaria, Israel, and Turkey, the gene has been reported to be effective in Australia, Mexico, the United States, and South Africa (1,2). A leaf rust isolate that differed in its avirulence/virulence profile from previously recorded races of Puccinia triticina Eriks. in South Africa was collected from triticale (× Triticosecale) in the Western Cape in 2005. According to the South African leaf rust differential set (3), this isolate (UVPt19) was avirulent for Lr3a, 3bg, 3ka, 10, 11, 16, 20, 26, and 30 and virulent for Lr1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 14a, 15, 17, 24, and Thatcher (Tc, control). Except for Lr20 in cv. Thew, all differentials are Tc near-isogenic lines. In comparison with known South African races (3), it differed from race 3SA132 at the Lr10 locus. Using standard rust pathology protocols (3), an expanded set of Lr gene lines (non Tc lines indicated) showed that UVPt19 is avirulent on wheat seedlings containing Lr9, 19, 21, 25, 27+31 (Gatcher), 29, 36 (ER84018), 37, 41 (KS91WGRC10), 44, 45, 47 (KS90H450), 50 (KS96WGRC36), 51 (R05), and 52, and virulent for Lr12, 22a, 23, 28, 32, 33, and 35. In the seedling stage, UVPt19 was virulent for the temperature sensitive genes Lr13, 18, and 34 at 25°C, but produced lower infection types (ITs) on Lr18 and 34 at 14 to 18°C. Seedlings of Pavon 76 (Lr46) were resistant (IT ;1=) to UVPt19. The susceptible response of lines carrying Lr32 was confirmed by high ITs (3++4) on RL5713/2*Mq, RL6086 (TcLr32), and RL5713/2*Mq//6*Palmiet. A control isolate (UVPt9) produced ITs ;1+, ;1+, and ;;1= on these lines, respectively. UVPt19 was virulent on line RL6092 (TcLr20) but avirulent on Thew. When tested on adult plants of lines RL6011 (TcLr12), CT263 (TcLr13), RL6044 (TcLr22a), RL6058 (TcLr34), RL6082 (TcLr35), RL6081 (TcLr37), and Tc (control), UVPt19 was only virulent (IT 3+) on CT263 and Tc. Flag leaves of RL6011 (IT ;1), RL6044 (IT 1), RL6058 (IT Z3-), RL6082 (IT 0;), and RL6081 (IT ;1) were resistant. UVPt19 was virulent on seedlings of 11 of 13 triticale cultivars and lines tested as opposed to UVPt9, which was virulent to only one entry. From a collection of 105 South African bread wheat cultivars and elite breeding lines, UVPt19 was virulent on 13 and five were mixed in their response to this isolate. All IT experiments were repeated. Although virulence has emerged for Lr32 in South Africa, the gene has not been used in local cultivars. Previously, McIntosh et al. (1) also reported that Lr32 has not been exploited in wheat production. On the basis of current evidence, UVPt19 appears to be potentially more damaging to triticale than bread wheat. Furthermore, the race seems rare because it was not collected in a recent wheat leaf rust survey in South Africa (3). References: (1) R. A. McIntosh et al. The Wheat Rusts: An Atlas of Resistance Genes, CSIRO-Kluwer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 1995. (2) Z. A. Pretorius. Phytophylactica 21:195, 1989. (3) T. Tarekegn et al. S. Afr. J. Plant Soil 26:51, 2009.

ABSTRACT Background: Epilepsy is the commonest neurological disorder encountered in Sub-Saharan Africa. The quality of life of patients with epilepsy (PWEs) is adversely affected by cognitive impairments. Aim: This study investigated the prevalence and pattern of cognitive impairments in PWE in Ukpo community located in a South-Eastern state in Nigeria using Community Screening Interview for Dementia (CSID) and a computer-assisted cognitive test battery (FePsy). Methods and Patients: Fifty-one PWEs were studied and compared with 51 age-, sex-and level of education-matched healthy controls. Diagnosis of epilepsy was confirmed clinically with eye-witness corroboration. Sociodemographic data and information on epilepsy variables were obtained with the aid of a questionnaire. Cognitive domains assessed include language, memory, orientation, attention, psychomotor speed and constructional praxis. Results: The prevalence rate of cognitive impairment using total CSID score was 19.6%. Analysis of CSID scores revealed significant impairment in language (17.6%), memory (29.4%), orientation (15.7%), attention (7.8%) and constructional praxis (15.7%) compared to healthy controls. A similar pattern was observed with FePsy but with better sensitivity indices for detecting cognitive impairment. Conclusion: This study indicated significant prevalence rate of cognitive impairment among treatment-naïve PWE with profound affectation of memory, mental speed and language. In addition, the FePsy was found to be more sensitive and specific in assessment of cognitive function in PWE.

We used the process-oriented niche model CLIMEX to estimate the potential global distribution of serrated tussock under projected future climates. Serrated tussock is a drought-tolerant, wind- and human-dispersed grass of South American origin that has invaded pastures in Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa. The likely effect of climate change on its potential global distribution was assessed by applying six climate-change scenarios to a previously developed model. The projections of climatic suitability under the current climate revealed considerable scope for spread, with the most suitable areas occurring adjacent to existing naturalized populations in Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe. Under future climates, projected to the 2080s, the land area suitable for serrated tussock contracts globally between 20 and 27%. Changes in projected potential area under the six scenarios were very similar in all geographical regions apart from North America and New Zealand, where the projections range from little change or contraction under the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Centre for Climate Research (MIROC) global climate models (GCMs) to expansion under the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) GCM. Elsewhere, contractions occur in Australia, Asia, South America, and Africa under all six future climate scenarios. By contrast, for Europe, the area climatically suitable for serrated tussock increases under all six scenarios (average increase 47%) through expansions into eastern European countries that are currently unsuitable and through increases in the suitable area in England, Ireland, and Denmark. Since pastoralism is a dominant land use in these regions of Europe, a prudent biosecurity strategy would be to contain the nascent foci of serrated tussock in southern France, along the west coast of Italy, and in the United Kingdom. This strategy could consist of a set of policies to limit human-assisted dispersal of the species' seeds and to reduce wind-borne spread through cultural control of the plant.

2006 marked the centenary of the commercial propagation of phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.) as a cultivated pasture plant, firstly in Australia, and soon after in New Zealand, South Africa, and North and South America. Small-scale evaluation of cv. Australian began in the Toowoomba Botanic Gardens, Queensland, in 1884. The first recorded large-scale production of seed was at the Glen Innes Research Farm of the NSW Department of Agriculture in February 1906. By 1908–15, several graziers in Australia and New Zealand sold seed widely within Australia, New Zealand, USA, Argentina, and South Africa. Factors affecting the utilisation of the original cultivar in Australia over the first half-century are reviewed. Thereafter, the need to extend the area of perennial pastures into regions unsuitable for cv. Australian led CSIRO and the US Department of Agriculture to collect germplasm widely in the Mediterranean region. Selection between and within Moroccan populations produced cvv. Sirocco and El Golea in Australia, and cv. Perla koleagrass in the USA. In Argentina, selection within cv. Australian produced the very successful, seed-retaining cv. Pergamino El Gaucho INTA, which was re-selected in Australia to produce cv. Seedmaster. The discovery of a single seed-retaining plant within a certified line of cv. Australian gave cv. Uneta, which had excellent seed retention because the rachillae of most seeds remained intact at maturity. In Australia, selection in populations derived from crosses between cv. Australian and Mediterranean ecotypes gave a succession of winter-active cultivars: Sirosa, Sirolan, Holdfast, Landmaster, Atlas PG, Advanced AT, and Holdfast GT. The latter 5 have Uneta-type seed retention, reduced tryptamine and tyramine alkaloids, and adaptation to different soil and climatic niches. Populations for the hotter, drier inland slopes of NSW are being field-tested. Also, a promising but unstable semi-dwarf line has been found: dwarfism appears to be caused by a transposable element. Breeding and selection programs in Argentina, several states of the USA, New Zealand, Israel, Tunisia, and Greece also produced cultivars with specific adaptations. Active breeding programs are continuing at Ardmore, OK, USA, and Pergamino, Argentina. A major remaining obstacle to the further improvement and utilisation of phalaris is the unknown chemical nature of the toxin(s) causing ‘sudden death’, which temporarily interfere with nitrogen metabolism in the brains of herbivores, especially ruminants.

Journal of Food Research wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated.
 
 Journal of Food Research is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please find the application form and details at http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jfr/editor/recruitment and e-mail the completed application form to jfr@ccsenet.org.
 
 Reviewers for Volume 7, Number 6
 
  
 
 Anna Maria Pappalardo, University of Catania, Italy
 
 Antonella Santillo, University of Foggia, Italy
 
 Bojana Filipcev, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
 
 Cheryl Rosita Rock, California State University, United States
 
 Codina Georgiana Gabriela, Stefan cel Mare University Suceava, Romania
 
 Corina-aurelia Zugravu, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Romania
 
 Diego A. Moreno-Fernández, CEBAS-CSIC, Spain
 
 Domitila Augusta Huber, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
 
 Elsa M Goncalves, Instituto Nacional de Investigacao Agrária, Portugal
 
 Jasdeep Saini, WTI (world Technology Ingredients), Inc., United States
 
 Jelena Dragisic Maksimovic, University of Belgrade, Serbia
 
 Kamila Goderska, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland
 
 Lenka Kourimska, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic
 
 Magdalena Polak-Berecka, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland
 
 Massimiliano Renna, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
 
 Milla Santos, Universidade Federal De Uberlandia, Brazil
 
 Mwanza Mulunda, North West University, South Africa
 
 Na-Hyung Kim, Wonkwang University, Korea
 
 Richard Nyanzi, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
 
 Slavica Grujic, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia Herzegovina
 
 Suresh Kumar, Hanyang University, Korea
 
 Teodora Emilia Coldea, Univ. of AG Sciences & Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
 
 Winny Routray, McGill University, Canada
 
 Yong Yang, University of Maryland, USA

Traditional plant breeding is based on the observation of variation and the selection of the best phenotypes, whereas modern breeding is characterised by the use of controlled mating and the selection of descendants using molecular markers. In this work, a comparative analysis of genetic diversity in a traditional (Tunisian) and a modern (Spanish) apricot breeding programme was performed at the phenotypic and molecular level using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Seven phenotypic traits were evaluated in 42 Tunisian apricot accessions and 30 genotypes from the Spanish apricot programme. In addition, 20 SSR markers previously described as linked to specific phenotypic traits were assayed. Results showed that modern breeding using controlled crosses increases the size of the fruit. The fruit weight average observed in the Tunisian cultivars was of 20.15 g. In the case of traditional Spanish cultivars the average weight was 47.12 g, whereas the average weight of the other progenitors from France, USA and South Africa was 72.85 g. Finally, in the new releases from the CEBAS-CSIC breeding programme, the average weight was 72.82 g. In addition, modern bred cultivars incorporate desirable traits such as self-compatibility and firmness. Cluster and structural analysis based on SSR data clearly differentiates the genotypes according to their geographic origin and pedigree. Finally, results showed an association between some alleles of PaCITA7 and UDP96003 SSR markers with apricot fruit weight, one allele of UDAp407 marker with fruit firmness and one allele of UDP98406 marker with fruit ripening.

Robert Donald Bruce (Bruce) Fraser was a biophysicist who gained world-wide distinction for his extensive structural studies of fibrous proteins. Bruce began a part-time BSc degree at Birkbeck College, London, while working as a laboratory assistant. In 1942, aged 18, he interrupted his studies and volunteered for training as a pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was sent to the Union of South Africa and was selected for instructor training, specialising in teaching pilot navigation. At the end of the war he completed his BSc at King’s College, London, and followed this with a PhD. Bruce studied the structure of biological molecules, including DNA, using infra-red micro-spectroscopy in the Biophysics Unit at King’s led by physicist J. T. Randall FRS. During that time Bruce built a structure for DNA that was close to the Watson-Crick structure that gained them and Maurice Wilkins at Kings College, the Nobel Prize in 1962. In 1952, he immigrated to Australia with his family to a position in the newly formed Wool Textile Research Laboratories at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Here, Bruce established a biophysics group for research on the structure of wool and other fibrous proteins that flourished until his retirement. Over that period he was internationally recognized as the pre-eminent fibrous protein structuralist world-wide. Having been acting chief, Bruce was subsequently appointed chief of the Division of Protein Chemistry and he remained in that role until he took retirement in 1987.

Abstract. We use an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), together with the GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model, to estimate regional monthly methane (CH4) fluxes for the period June 2009–December 2010 using proxy dry-air column-averaged mole fractions of methane (XCH4) from GOSAT (Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite) and/or NOAA ESRL (Earth System Research Laboratory) and CSIRO GASLAB (Global Atmospheric Sampling Laboratory) CH4 surface mole fraction measurements. Global posterior estimates using GOSAT and/or surface measurements are between 510–516 Tg yr−1, which is less than, though within the uncertainty of, the prior global flux of 529 ± 25 Tg yr−1. We find larger differences between regional prior and posterior fluxes, with the largest changes (75 Tg yr−1) occurring in Temperate Eurasia. In non-boreal regions the error reductions for inversions using the GOSAT data are at least three times larger (up to 45%) than if only surface data are assimilated, a reflection of the greater spatial coverage of GOSAT, with the two exceptions of latitudes > 60° associated with a data filter and over Europe where the surface network adequately describes fluxes on our model spatial and temporal grid. We use CarbonTracker and GEOS-Chem XCO2 model output to investigate model error on quantifying proxy GOSAT XCH4 (involving model XCO2) and inferring methane flux estimates from surface mole fraction data and show similar resulting fluxes, with differences reflecting initial differences in the proxy value. Using a series of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) we characterize the posterior flux error introduced by non-uniform atmospheric sampling by GOSAT. We show that clear-sky measurements can theoretically reproduce fluxes within 5% of true values, with the exception of South Africa and Tropical South America where, due to a large seasonal cycle in the number of measurements because of clouds and aerosols, fluxes are within 17% and 19% of true fluxes, respectively. We evaluate our posterior methane fluxes by incorporating them into GEOS-Chem and sampling the model at the location and time of independent surface CH4 measurements from the AGAGE (Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment) network and column XCH4 measurements from TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network). The posterior fluxes modestly improve the model agreement with AGAGE and TCCON data relative to prior fluxes, with the correlation coefficients (r2) increasing by a mean of 0.04 (range: −0.17, 0.23) and the biases decreasing by a mean of 0.4 ppb (range: −8.9, 8.4 ppb).

Journal of Food Research wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated.
 
 Journal of Food Research is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please contact us for the application form at: jfr@ccsenet.org
 
 Reviewers for Volume 9, Number 2
 
  
 
 Ammar Eltayeb Ali Hassan, University of Tromsø, Norway
 
 Ana Silva, National Institute of Health Dr Ricardo Jorge, Portugal
 
 Ancuta Elena Prisacaru, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania
 
 Bernardo Pace, Institute of Science of Food Production (ISPA), National Research Council (CNR), Italy
 
 Bruno Alejandro Irigaray, Facultad de Química, Uruguay
 
 Coman Gigi, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania
 
 Diego A. Moreno-Fernández, CEBAS-CSIC, Spain
 
 Djilani Abdelouaheb, Badji Mokhtar University, Algeria
 
 Elke Rauscher-Gabernig, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Austria
 
 Elsa M Goncalves, Instituto Nacional de Investigacao Agrária (INIA), Portugal
 
 Essence Jeanne Picones Logan, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
 
 Greta Faccio, Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Sciences and Technology, Switzerland
 
 J. Basilio Heredia, Research Center for Food and Development, Mexico
 
 Jintana Wiboonsirikul, Phetchaburi Rajabhat University, Thailand
 
 Jose Maria Zubeldia, Gestión Sanitaria de Canarias – Gobierno de Canarias, Spain
 
 Luis Patarata, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
 
 Ma Lourdes Vazquez-Odériz, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
 
 Marco Iammarino, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata, Italy
 
 Mariana de Lourdes Almeida Vieira, Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais, Brazil
 
 Massimiliano Renna, CNR-National Research Council of Italy, Italy
 
 Paolo Polidori, University of Camerino, Italy
 
 Richard Nyanzi, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
 
 Shao Quan Liu, National University of Singapore, Singapore
 
 Stuart Munson-McGee, New Mexico State University, United States
 
 Tzortzis Nomikos, Harokopio University, Greece
 
 Xinyin Jiang, Brooklyn College, United States

In attempting to bridge the digital divide and provide access to ICTs the South Africa government deployed telecentres to rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into what makes telecentres sustainable. The ICT Platform project (Platform) is the initiative between the South African government and the CSIR. For this study the Technology Acceptance Model is utilised. The main research methodology will be qualitative multiple case study research with interpretivism as philosophy. The results show the importance of community leaders, project champions and users in the adoption and use and in ensuring the financially, socially and politically sustainability of ICT Platforms.

This paper provides the lessons learned from an attempt by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to develop a National Information Society Learnership in Ecological Informatics (NISL: EI). Ten unemployed graduates were selected in 2004 to be part of two years NISL: EI learnership programme. The results show that the programme had succeeded in making candidates employable, with 90 percent of the learners working in different science and technology sectors, and two Honours degrees having been awarded. Challenges for higher level learnership development and implementation are identified and possible solutions are discussed.

Background: Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the only practical, non-invasive method of recording and analysing cardiac abnormalities. It enables a primary healthcare (PHC) clinician to detect cardiac and non-cardiac abnormalities, some potentially life-threatening. Their early detection could save a patient’s life.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the competence of generalist practitioners in ECG interpretation.Setting: This study was conducted at the Annual Refresher Course, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 93 generalist practitioners, using a self-administered questionnaire containing 20 ECG tracings, commonly encountered in PHC. The tracings were categorised into primary ECG parameters, ECG emergencies and common ECG abnormalities. Competence was determined by the generalist practitioner’s number of correctly interpreted ECG tracings. Data associations were computed using the Fisher’s exact test. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.Results: Correct heart rate calculation was achieved by 14/83 (16.9%), ECG rhythm by 7/83 (8.4%), acute antero-septal myocardial infarction (MI) by 29/83 (34.9%), atrial fibrillation by 19/83 (22.9%) and cute inferior MI by 22/83 (26.5%) generalist practitioners. No correlation was found between the practitioners’ number of years in practice and competence in ECG interpretation (p 0.05). The total number of correct answers achieved by all practitioners was 274/1860 (14.7%).Conclusion: The generalist practitioners had poor competency on ECG interpretation regardless of the number of years in practice. Their poor self-rating corresponded with the number of correct answers they provided. There is a need for continuous education in ECG interpretation.

Dr. Jackie Phahlamohlaka reflected on what he would propose to the board regarding the transformation of the existing Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust (SEIDET) community centre to a smart community centre. As the Competency Area Manager at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, the founder of SEIDET and the chairman of its Board of Trustees, he had for over twenty-four years led socio-economic development efforts and ICT related research linked to SEIDET (SEIDET, 2014). These programmes ranged from high school supplementary tutorials on mathematics and science to adult and computer literacy training of the broader community in the Siyabuswa area of Mpumalanga Province, Republic of South Africa. These questions were: (1) How could SEIDET leverage or create affordable cyber network infrastructure in the envisaged smart centre? (2) How could the smart centre assist the local community and individuals in the community to be enabled to participate in local economic development? (3) How could SEIDET get the local government administration, traditional leaders and the local community to buy-in to this smart centre development project in order to ensure its sustainability?

The Digital Doorway (DD) is a joint initiative between the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The DD is a non-standard computer system deployed amongst underprivileged communities in South Africa with the objective to promote computer literacy. Since its inception, there has been no usability or accessibility evaluation of the software installed on the DD, mainly due to lack of usability engineering or interaction design expertise within the development team. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to design a solution to this problem by developing a suitable instrument that could guide DD application developers in the design and development of more usable DD software and interfaces. Design research was used as a research methodology. We first investigated the applicability of the standard usability and accessibility evaluation methods for evaluating the software installed on the DD. During the first cycle of design research, we established that a heuristic-like evaluation method would be an appropriate method for evaluating the usability and direct accessibility support provided by the DD. During a second cycle of design research, embedded in the first, we also developed a set of multi-category heuristics as the ‘instrument’ that could guide the developers during design of applications as well as in the first-level (formative) evaluation thereof. To verify the heuristics, we conducted a usability evaluation of the DD and triangulated the results with a direct field observation at a natural environment of DD use, together with user-administered questionnaires.

Private sector institutions utilise many different business methods, some of which can selectively be adapted for use by organisations outside the private sector, to the benefit of their service delivery responsibilities. But the best of the appropriate practices from the private sector have often “not crossed over”.The Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa, working in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), finds that the concept of franchising, so successfully used by the private sector to deliver many goods and services, if applied to water services operation and maintenance, could alleviate and address many challenges in the management of water services. At the same time, franchising could provide an ideal stimulus to support the development of local enterprises, all within the municipal service delivery environment.Franchisee water service providers, dependent for their livelihood on the success of their business, would have a strong incentive to perform, and would also enjoy the benefit of the franchisor’s expert guidance and quality assurance. Some areas for potential franchising include meter management, billing, plumbing, pressure management, sewer maintenance, and wastewater treatment processes.The help from the franchisor would be of particular value to water services authorities at a distance from the major urban centres. Few of these authorities can afford to employ competent qualified staff, and often non-compliance with the laid down performance standards is a direct consequence of this lack. Significant improvements would soon be seen if the generally under-qualified and under-resourced water services staff could have this ongoing support, mentoring and quality control — or if the authority could enter into partnerships with small local enterprises or NGOs which would, through franchising, enjoy the necessary ongoing support, mentoring and quality control, and would have quick access to expert assistance when they needed it.

IntroductionTasmania hangs from the map of Australia like a drop in freefall from the substance of the mainland. Often the whole state is mislaid from Australian maps and logos (Reddit). Tasmania has, at least since federation, been considered peripheral—a region seen as isolated, a ‘problem’ economically, politically, and culturally. However, Tasmania not only cleaves to the ‘north island’ of Australia but is also subject to the gravitational pull of an even greater land mass—Antarctica. In this article, we upturn the political conventions of map-making that place both Antarctica and Tasmania in obscure positions at the base of the globe. We show how a changing global climate re-frames Antarctica and the Southern Ocean as key drivers of worldwide environmental shifts. The liquid and solid water between Tasmania and Antarctica is revealed not as a homogenous barrier, but as a dynamic and relational medium linking the Tasmanian archipelago with Antarctica. When Antarctica becomes the focus, the script is flipped: Tasmania is no longer on the edge, but core to a network of gateways into the southern land. The state’s capital of Hobart can from this perspective be understood as an “Antarctic city”, central to the geopolitics, economy, and culture of the frozen continent (Salazar et al.). Viewed from the south, we argue, Tasmania is not a problem, but an opportunity for a form of ecological, cultural, economic, and political sustainability that opens up the southern continent to science, discovery, and imagination.A Centre at the End of the Earth? Tasmania as ParadoxThe islands of Tasmania owe their existence to climate change: a period of warming at the end of the last ice age melted the vast sheets of ice covering the polar regions, causing sea levels to rise by more than one hundred metres (Tasmanian Climate Change Office 8). Eleven thousand years ago, Aboriginal people would have witnessed the rise of what is now called Bass Strait, turning what had been a peninsula into an archipelago, with the large island of Tasmania at its heart. The heterogeneous practices and narratives of Tasmanian regional identity have been shaped by the geography of these islands, and their connection to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Regions, understood as “centres of collective consciousness and sociospatial identities” (Paasi 241) are constantly reproduced and reimagined through place-based social practices and communications over time. As we will show, diverse and contradictory narratives of Tasmanian regionality often co-exist, interacting in complex and sometimes complementary ways. Ecocritical literary scholar C.A. Cranston considers duality to be embedded in the textual construction of Tasmania, writing “it was hell, it was heaven, it was penal, it was paradise” (29). Tasmania is multiply polarised: it is both isolated and connected; close and far away; rich in resources and poor in capital; the socially conservative birthplace of radical green politics (Hay 60). The weather, as if sensing the fine balance of these paradoxes, blows hot and cold at a moment’s notice.Tasmania has wielded extraordinary political influence at times in its history—notably during the settlement of Melbourne in 1835 (Boyce), and during protests against damming the Franklin River in the early 1980s (Mercer). However, twentieth-century historical and political narratives of Tasmania portray the Bass Strait as a barrier, isolating Tasmanians from the mainland (Harwood 61). Sir Bede Callaghan, who headed one of a long line of federal government inquiries into “the Tasmanian problem” (Harwood 106), was clear that Tasmania was a victim of its own geography:the major disability facing the people of Tasmania (although some residents may consider it an advantage) is that Tasmania is an island. Separation from the mainland adversely affects the economy of the State and the general welfare of the people in many ways. (Callaghan 3)This perspective may stem from the fact that Tasmania has maintained the lowest Gross Domestic Product per capita of all states since federation (Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics 9). Socially, economically, and culturally, Tasmania consistently ranks among the worst regions of Australia. Statistical comparisons with other parts of Australia reveal the population’s high unemployment, low wages, poor educational outcomes, and bad health (West 31). The state’s remoteness and isolation from the mainland states and its reliance on federal income have contributed to the whole of Tasmania, including Hobart, being classified as ‘regional’ by the Australian government, in an attempt to promote immigration and economic growth (Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development 1). Tasmania is indeed both regional and remote. However, in this article we argue that, while regionality may be cast as a disadvantage, the island’s remote location is also an asset, particularly when viewed from a far southern perspective (Image 1).Image 1: Antarctica (Orthographic Projection). Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Modified Shading of Tasmania and Addition of Captions by H. Nielsen.Connecting Oceans/Collapsing DistanceTasmania and Antarctica have been closely linked in the past—the future archipelago formed a land bridge between Antarctica and northern land masses until the opening of the Tasman Seaway some 32 million years ago (Barker et al.). The far south was tangible to the Indigenous people of the island in the weather blowing in from the Southern Ocean, while the southern lights, or “nuyina”, formed a visible connection (Australia’s new icebreaker vessel is named RSV Nuyina in recognition of these links). In the contemporary Australian imagination, Tasmania tends to be defined by its marine boundaries, the sea around the islands represented as flat, empty space against which to highlight the topography of its landscape and the isolation of its position (Davies et al.). A more relational geographic perspective illuminates the “power of cross-currents and connections” (Stratford et al. 273) across these seascapes. The sea country of Tasmania is multiple and heterogeneous: the rough, shallow waters of the island-scattered Bass Strait flow into the Tasman Sea, where the continental shelf descends toward an abyssal plain studded with volcanic seamounts. To the south, the Southern Ocean provides nutrient-rich upwellings that attract fish and cetacean populations. Tasmania’s coast is a dynamic, liminal space, moving and changing in response to the global currents that are driven by the shifting, calving and melting ice shelves and sheets in Antarctica.Oceans have long been a medium of connection between Tasmania and Antarctica. In the early colonial period, when the seas were the major thoroughfares of the world and inland travel was treacherous and slow, Tasmania’s connection with the Southern Ocean made it a valuable hub for exploration and exploitation of the south. Between 1642 and 1900, early European explorers were followed by British penal colonists, convicts, sealers, and whalers (Kriwoken and Williamson 93). Tasmania was well known to polar explorers, with expeditions led by Jules Dumont d’Urville, James Clark Ross, Roald Amundsen, and Douglas Mawson all transiting through the port of Hobart. Now that the city is no longer a whaling hub, growing populations of cetaceans continue to migrate past the islands on their annual journeys from the tropics, across the Sub-Antarctic Front and Antarctic circumpolar current, and into the south polar region, while southern species such as leopard seals are occasionally seen around Tasmania (Tasmania Parks and Wildlife). Although the water surrounding Tasmania and Antarctica is at times homogenised as a ‘barrier’, rendering these places isolated, the bodies of water that surround both are in fact permeable, and regularly crossed by both humans and marine species. The waters are diverse in their physical characteristics, underlying topography, sea life, and relationships, and serve to connect many different ocean regions, ecosystems, and weather patterns.Views from the Far SouthWhen considered in terms of its relative proximity to Antarctic, rather than its distance from Australia’s political and economic centres, Tasmania’s identity undergoes a significant shift. A sign at Cockle Creek, in the state’s far south, reminds visitors that they are closer to Antarctica than to Cairns, invoking a discourse of connectedness that collapses the standard ten-day ship voyage to Australia’s closest Antarctic station into a unit comparable with the routinely scheduled 5.5 hour flight to North Queensland. Hobart is the logistical hub for the Australian Antarctic Division and the French Institut Polaire Francais (IPEV), and has hosted Antarctic vessels belonging to the USA, South Korea, and Japan in recent years. From a far southern perspective, Hobart is not a regional Australian capital but a global polar hub. This alters the city’s geographic imaginary not only in a latitudinal sense—from “top down” to “bottom up”—but also a longitudinal one. Via its southward connection to Antarctica, Hobart is also connected east and west to four other recognized gateways: Cape Town in South Africa, Christchurch in New Zealand; Punta Arenas in Chile; and Ushuaia in Argentina (Image 2). The latter cities are considered small by international standards, but play an outsized role in relation to Antarctica.Image 2: H. Nielsen with a Sign Announcing Distances between Antarctic ‘Gateway’ Cities and Antarctica, Ushuaia, Argentina, 2018. Image Credit: Nicki D'Souza.These five cities form what might be called—to adapt geographer Klaus Dodds’ term—a ‘Southern Rim’ around the South Polar region (Dodds Geopolitics). They exist in ambiguous relationship to each other. Although the five cities signed a Statement of Intent in 2009 committing them to collaboration, they continue to compete vigorously for northern hemisphere traffic and the brand identity of the most prominent global gateway. A state government brochure spruiks Hobart, for example, as the “perfect Antarctic Gateway” emphasising its uniqueness and “natural advantages” in this regard (Tasmanian Government, 2016). In practice, the cities are automatically differentiated by their geographic position with respect to Antarctica. Although the ‘ice continent’ is often conceived as one entity, it too has regions, in both scientific and geographical senses (Terauds and Lee; Antonello). Hobart provides access to parts of East Antarctica, where the Australian, French, Japanese, and Chinese programs (among others) have bases; Cape Town is a useful access point for Europeans going to Dronning Maud Land; Christchurch is closest to the Ross Sea region, site of the largest US base; and Punta Arenas and Ushuaia neighbour the Antarctic Peninsula, home to numerous bases as well as a thriving tourist industry.The Antarctic sector is important to the Tasmanian economy, contributing $186 million (AUD) in 2017/18 (Wells; Gutwein; Tasmanian Polar Network). Unsurprisingly, Tasmania’s gateway brand has been actively promoted, with the 2016 Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan foregrounding the need to “Build Tasmania’s status as the premier East Antarctic Gateway for science and operations” and the state government releasing a “Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy” in 2017. The Chinese Antarctic program has been a particular focus: a Memorandum of Understanding focussed on Australia and China’s Antarctic relations includes a “commitment to utilise Australia, including Tasmania, as an Antarctic ‘gateway’.” (Australian Antarctic Division). These efforts towards a closer relationship with China have more recently come under attack as part of a questioning of China’s interests in the region (without, it should be noted, a concomitant questioning of Australia’s own considerable interests) (Baker 9). In these exchanges, a global power and a state of Australia generally classed as regional and peripheral are brought into direct contact via the even more remote Antarctic region. This connection was particularly visible when Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Hobart in 2014, in a visit described as both “strategic” and “incongruous” (Burden). There can be differences in how this relationship is narrated to domestic and international audiences, with issues of sovereignty and international cooperation variously foregrounded, laying the ground for what Dodds terms “awkward Antarctic nationalism” (1).Territory and ConnectionsThe awkwardness comes to a head in Tasmania, where domestic and international views of connections with the far south collide. Australia claims sovereignty over almost 6 million km2 of the Antarctic continent—a claim that in area is “roughly the size of mainland Australia minus Queensland” (Bergin). This geopolitical context elevates the importance of a regional part of Australia: the claims to Antarctic territory (which are recognised only by four other claimant nations) are performed not only in Antarctic localities, where they are made visible “with paraphernalia such as maps, flags, and plaques” (Salazar 55), but also in Tasmania, particularly in Hobart and surrounds. A replica of Mawson’s Huts in central Hobart makes Australia’s historic territorial interests in Antarctica visible an urban setting, foregrounding the figure of Douglas Mawson, the well-known Australian scientist and explorer who led the expeditions that proclaimed Australia’s sovereignty in the region of the continent roughly to its south (Leane et al.). Tasmania is caught in a balancing act, as it fosters international Antarctic connections (such hosting vessels from other national programs), while also playing a key role in administering what is domestically referred to as the Australian Antarctic Territory. The rhetoric of protection can offer common ground: island studies scholar Godfrey Baldacchino notes that as island narratives have moved “away from the perspective of the ‘explorer-discoverer-colonist’” they have been replaced by “the perspective of the ‘custodian-steward-environmentalist’” (49), but reminds readers that a colonising disposition still lurks beneath the surface. It must be remembered that terms such as “stewardship” and “leadership” can undertake sovereignty labour (Dodds “Awkward”), and that Tasmania’s Antarctic connections can be mobilised for a range of purposes. When Environment Minister Greg Hunt proclaimed at a press conference that: “Hobart is the gateway to the Antarctic for the future” (26 Apr. 2016), the remark had meaning within discourses of both sovereignty and economics. Tasmania’s capital was leveraged as a way to position Australia as a leader in the Antarctic arena.From ‘Gateway’ to ‘Antarctic City’While discussion of Antarctic ‘Gateway’ Cities often focuses on the economic and logistical benefit of their Antarctic connections, Hobart’s “gateway” identity, like those of its counterparts, stretches well beyond this, encompassing geological, climatic, historical, political, cultural and scientific links. Even the southerly wind, according to cartoonist Jon Kudelka, “has penguins in it” (Image 3). Hobart residents feel a high level of connection to Antarctica. In 2018, a survey of 300 randomly selected residents of Greater Hobart was conducted under the umbrella of the “Antarctic Cities” Australian Research Council Linkage Project led by Assoc. Prof. Juan Francisco Salazar (and involving all three present authors). Fourteen percent of respondents reported having been involved in an economic activity related to Antarctica, and 36% had attended a cultural event about Antarctica. Connections between the southern continent and Hobart were recognised as important: 71.9% agreed that “people in my city can influence the cultural meanings that shape our relationship to Antarctica”, while 90% agreed or strongly agreed that Hobart should play a significant role as a custodian of Antarctica’s future, and 88.4% agreed or strongly agreed that: “How we treat Antarctica is a test of our approach to ecological sustainability.” Image 3: “The Southerly” Demonstrates How Weather Connects Hobart and Antarctica. Image Credit: Jon Kudelka, Reproduced with Permission.Hobart, like the other gateways, activates these connections in its conscious place-branding. The city is particularly strong as a centre of Antarctic research: signs at the cruise-ship terminal on the waterfront claim that “There are more Antarctic scientists based in Hobart […] than at any other one place on earth, making Hobart a globally significant contributor to our understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.” Researchers are based at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), with several working between institutions. Many Antarctic researchers located elsewhere in the world also have a connection with the place through affiliations and collaborations, leading journalist Jo Chandler to assert that “the breadth and depth of Hobart’s knowledge of ice, water, and the life forms they nurture […] is arguably unrivalled anywhere in the world” (86).Hobart also plays a significant role in Antarctica’s governance, as the site of the secretariats for the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), and as host of the Antarctic Consultative Treaty Meetings on more than one occasion (1986, 2012). The cultural domain is active, with Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) featuring a permanent exhibit, “Islands to Ice”, emphasising the ocean as connecting the two places; the Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum aiming (among other things) to “highlight Hobart as the gateway to the Antarctic continent for the Asia Pacific region”; and a biennial Australian Antarctic Festival drawing over twenty thousand visitors, about a sixth of them from interstate or overseas (Hingley). Antarctic links are evident in the city’s natural and built environment: the dolerite columns of Mt Wellington, the statue of the Tasmanian Antarctic explorer Louis Bernacchi on the waterfront, and the wharfs that regularly accommodate icebreakers such as the Aurora Australis and the Astrolabe. Antarctica is figured as a southern neighbour; as historian Tom Griffiths puts it, Tasmanians “grow up with Antarctica breathing down their necks” (5). As an Antarctic City, Hobart mediates access to Antarctica both physically and in the cultural imaginary.Perhaps in recognition of the diverse ways in which a region or a city might be connected to Antarctica, researchers have recently been suggesting critical approaches to the ‘gateway’ label. C. Michael Hall points to a fuzziness in the way the term is applied, noting that it has drifted from its initial definition (drawn from economic geography) as denoting an access and supply point to a hinterland that produces a certain level of economic benefits. While Hall looks to keep the term robustly defined to avoid empty “local boosterism” (272–73), Gabriela Roldan aims to move the concept “beyond its function as an entry and exit door”, arguing that, among other things, the local community should be actively engaged in the Antarctic region (57). Leane, examining the representation of Hobart as a gateway in historical travel texts, concurs that “ingress and egress” are insufficient descriptors of Tasmania’s relationship with Antarctica, suggesting that at least discursively the island is positioned as “part of an Antarctic rim, itself sharing qualities of the polar region” (45). The ARC Linkage Project described above, supported by the Hobart City Council, the State Government and the University of Tasmania, as well as other national and international partners, aims to foster the idea of the Hobart and its counterparts as ‘Antarctic cities’ whose citizens act as custodians for the South Polar region, with a genuine concern for and investment in its future.Near and Far: Local Perspectives A changing climate may once again herald a shift in the identity of the Tasmanian islands. Recognition of the central role of Antarctica in regulating the global climate has generated scientific and political re-evaluation of the region. Antarctica is not only the planet’s largest heat sink but is the engine of global water currents and wind patterns that drive weather patterns and biodiversity across the world (Convey et al. 543). For example, Tas van Ommen’s research into Antarctic glaciology shows the tangible connection between increased snowfall in coastal East Antarctica and patterns of drought southwest Western Australia (van Ommen and Morgan). Hobart has become a global centre of marine and Antarctic science, bringing investment and development to the city. As the global climate heats up, Tasmania—thanks to its low latitude and southerly weather patterns—is one of the few regions in Australia likely to remain temperate. This is already leading to migration from the mainland that is impacting house prices and rental availability (Johnston; Landers 1). The region’s future is therefore closely entangled with its proximity to the far south. Salazar writes that “we cannot continue to think of Antarctica as the end of the Earth” (67). Shifting Antarctica into focus also brings Tasmania in from the margins. As an Antarctic city, Hobart assumes a privileged positioned on the global stage. This allows the city to present itself as central to international research efforts—in contrast to domestic views of the place as a small regional capital. The city inhabits dual identities; it is both on the periphery of Australian concerns and at the centre of Antarctic activity. Tasmania, then, is not in freefall, but rather at the forefront of a push to recognise Antarctica as entangled with its neighbours to the north.AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the Australian Research Council under LP160100210.ReferencesAntonello, Alessandro. “Finding Place in Antarctica.” Antarctica and the Humanities. Eds. Peder Roberts, Lize-Marie van der Watt, and Adrian Howkins. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 181–204.Australian Government. Australian Antarctic Strategy and 20 Year Action Plan. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2016. 15 Apr. 2019. <http://www.antarctica.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/180827/20YearStrategy_final.pdf>.Australian Antarctic Division. “Australia-China Collaboration Strengthens.” Australian Antarctic Magazine 27 Dec. 2014. 15 Apr. 2019. <http://www.antarctica.gov.au/magazine/2011-2015/issue-27-december-2014/in-brief/australia-china-collaboration-strengthens>.Baker, Emily. “Worry at Premier’s Defence of China.” The Mercury 15 Sep. 2018: 9.Baldacchino, G. “Studying Islands: On Whose Terms?” Island Studies Journal 3.1 (2008): 37–56.Barker, Peter F., Gabriel M. Filippelli, Fabio Florindo, Ellen E. Martin, and Howard D. Schere. “Onset and Role of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.” Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 54.21–22 (2007): 2388–98.Bergin, Anthony. “Australia Needs to Strengthen Its Strategic Interests in Antarctica.” Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 29 Apr. 2016. 21 Feb. 2019 <https://www.aspi.org.au/index.php/opinion/australia-needs-strengthen-its-strategic-interests-antarctica>.Boyce, James. 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia. Melbourne: Black Inc., 2011.Burden, Hilary. “Xi Jinping's Tasmania Visit May Seem Trivial, But Is Full of Strategy.” The Guardian 18 Nov. 2014. 19 May 2019 <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/18/xi-jinpings-tasmania-visit-lacking-congruity-full-of-strategy>.Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). A Regional Economy: A Case Study of Tasmania. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2008. 14 May 2019 <http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/86/Files/report116.pdf>.Chandler, Jo. “The Science Laboratory: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.” Griffith Review: Tasmania: The Tipping Point? 29 (2013) 83–101.Christchurch City Council. Statement of Intent between the Southern Rim Gateway Cities to the Antarctic: Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Christchurch, Hobart and Cape Town. 25 Sep. 2009. 11 Apr. 2019 <http://archived.ccc.govt.nz/Council/proceedings/2009/September/CnclCover24th/Clause8Attachment.pdf>.Convey, P., R. Bindschadler, G. di Prisco, E. Fahrbach, J. Gutt, D.A. Hodgson, P.A. Mayewski, C.P. Summerhayes, J. Turner, and ACCE Consortium. “Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment.” Antarctic Science 21.6 (2009): 541–63.Cranston, C. “Rambling in Overdrive: Travelling through Tasmanian Literature.” Tasmanian Historical Studies 8.2 (2003): 28–39.Davies, Lynn, Margaret Davies, and Warren Boyles. Mapping Van Diemen’s Land and the Great Beyond: Rare and Beautiful Maps from the Royal Society of Tasmania. Hobart: The Royal Society of Tasmania, 2018.Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Guidelines for Analysing Regional Australia Impacts and Developing a Regional Australia Impact Statement. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2017. 11 Apr. 2019 <https://regional.gov.au/regional/information/rais/>.Dodds, Klaus. “Awkward Antarctic Nationalism: Bodies, Ice Cores and Gateways in and beyond Australian Antarctic Territory/East Antarctica.” Polar Record 53.1 (2016): 16–30.———. Geopolitics in Antarctica: Views from the Southern Oceanic Rim. Chichester: John Wiley, 1997.Griffiths, Tom. “The Breath of Antarctica.” Tasmanian Historical Studies 11 (2006): 4–14.Gutwein, Peter. “Antarctic Gateway Worth $186 Million to Tasmanian Economy.” Hobart: Tasmanian Government, 20 Feb. 2019. 21 Feb. 2019 <http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/releases/antarctic_gateway_worth_$186_million_to_tasmanian_economy>.Hall, C. Michael. “Polar Gateways: Approaches, Issues and Review.” The Polar Journal 5.2 (2015): 257–77. Harwood Andrew. “The Political Constitution of Islandness: The ‘Tasmanian Problem’ and Ten Days on the Island.” PhD Thesis. U of Tasmania, 2011. <http://eprints.utas.edu.au/11855/%5Cninternal-pdf://5288/11855.html>.Hay, Peter. “Destabilising Tasmanian Politics: The Key Role of the Greens.” Bulletin of the Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies 3.2 (1991): 60–70.Hingley, Rebecca. Personal Communication, 28 Nov. 2018.Johnston, P. “Is the First Wave of Climate Migrants Landing in Hobart?” The Fifth Estate 11 Sep. 2018. 15 Mar. 2019 <https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/climate-change-news/climate-migrants-landing-hobart>.Kriwoken, L., and J. Williamson. “Hobart, Tasmania: Antarctic and Southern Ocean Connections.” Polar Record 29.169 (1993): 93–102.Kudelka, John. “The Southerly.” Kudelka Cartoons. 27 Jun. 2014. 21 Feb. 2019 <https://www.kudelka.com.au/2014/06/the-southerly/>.Leane, E., T. Winter, and J.F. Salazar. “Caught between Nationalism and Internationalism: Replicating Histories of Antarctica in Hobart.” International Journal of Heritage Studies 22.3 (2016): 214–27. Leane, Elizabeth. “Tasmania from Below: Antarctic Travellers’ Accounts of a Southern ‘Gateway’.” Studies in Travel Writing 20.1 (2016): 34-48.Mawson’s Huts Replica Museum. “Mission Statement.” 15 Apr. 2019 <http://www.mawsons-huts-replica.org.au/>.Mercer, David. "Australia's Constitution, Federalism and the ‘Tasmanian Dam Case’." Political Geography Quarterly 4.2 (1985): 91–110.Paasi, A. “Deconstructing Regions: Notes on the Scales of Spatial Life.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 23.2 (1991) 239–56.Reddit. “Maps without Tasmania.” 15 Apr. 2019 <https://www.reddit.com/r/MapsWithoutTasmania/>.Roldan, Gabriela. “'A Door to the Ice?: The Significance of the Antarctic Gateway Cities Today.” Journal of Antarctic Affairs 2 (2015): 57–70.Salazar, Juan Francisco. “Geographies of Place-Making in Antarctica: An Ethnographic Epproach.” The Polar Journal 3.1 (2013): 53–71.———, Elizabeth Leane, Liam Magee, and Paul James. “Five Cities That Could Change the Future of Antarctica.” The Conversation 5 Oct. 2016. 19 May 2019 <https://theconversation.com/five-cities-that-could-change-the-future-of-antarctica-66259>.Stratford, Elaine, Godfrey Baldacchino, Elizabeth McMahon, Carol Farbotko, and Andrew Harwood. “Envisioning the Archipelago.” Island Studies Journal 6.2 (2011): 113–30.Tasmanian Climate Change Office. Derivation of the Tasmanian Sea Level Rise Planning Allowances. Aug. 2012. 17 Apr. 2019 <http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/176331/Tasmanian_SeaLevelRisePlanningAllowance_TechPaper_Aug2012.pdf>.Tasmanian Government Department of State Growth. “Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy.” Hobart: Tasmanian Government, 12 Dec. 2017. 21 Feb. 2019 <https://www.antarctic.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/164749/Tasmanian_Antarctic_Gateway_Strategy_12_Dec_2017.pdf>.———. “Tasmania Delivers…” Apr. 2016. 15 Apr. 2019 <https://www.antarctic.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/66461/Tasmania_Delivers_Antarctic_Southern_Ocean_web.pdf>.———. “Antarctic Tasmania.” 17 Feb. 2019. 15 Apr. 2019 <https://www.antarctic.tas.gov.au/about/hobarts_antarctic_attractions>.Tasmanian Polar Network. “Welcome to the Tasmanian Polar Network.” 28 Feb. 2019 <https://www.tasmanianpolarnetwork.com.au/>.Terauds, Aleks, and Jasmine Lee. “Antarctic Biogeography Revisited: Updating the Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions.” Diversity and Distributions 22 (2016): 836–40.Van Ommen, Tas, and Vin Morgan. “Snowfall Increase in Coastal East Antarctica Linked with Southwest Western Australian Drought.” Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 267–72.Wells Economic Analysis. The Contribution of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Sector to the Tasmanian Economy 2017. 18 Nov. 2018. 15 Apr. 2019 <https://www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/185671/Wells_Report_on_the_Value_of_the_Antarctic_Sector_2017_18.pdf>.West, J. “Obstacles to Progress: What’s Wrong with Tasmania, Really?” Griffith Review: Tasmania: The Tipping Point? 39 (2013): 31–53.