Mobility in the Gauteng City-Region

July 2014 - Edited by: Chris Wray and Graeme GotzMobility in the Gauteng City-Region has been written in a remarkable moment in the history of transport development in Gauteng. On the one hand the region appears to be in a new ‘golden era’ of transit infrastructure design and investment, as well as long-term planning for ever-growing commuter transport needs. On the other hand, the transport difficulties faced by the Gauteng City-Region’s (GCR) fast-growing population, as well as the many financial, spatial, social, economic and environmental challenges that flow from the region-wide architecture of this population’s daily commuting, appear to be growing ever more acute. It is, therefore, important to delineate the existing flows of traffic across the GCR; to understand the challenges of transport efficiency, access and affordability; and to gauge the impact of key transport interventions like the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Programme and associated e-tolling, and municipal Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure. The report is structured as follows: a summary of recent transport infrastructure projects and key transport challenges are described in Chapter 1 written by Graeme Gotz and Chris Wray. The second and third chapters, by Prof Christo Venter and Willem Badenhorst, provide an in depth analysis of the 2011 Quality of Life survey transport questions, including the generation of a Quality of Transport Index. In Chapter 4, GCRO researcher Guy Trangoš provides a multi-scalar analysis of the public space design around four existing Gautrain stations – valuable research to be considered by authorities should the proposed extensions to the Gautrain go ahead. An often ignored but, from a sustainability perspective, an increasingly important aspect of transport is non-motorised transport (NMT). The report concludes with two NMT chapters by GCRO researcher Christina Culwick, exploring the state of NMT in the GCR and portraying the challenges and potential opportunities for the future of NMT in the city-region. It is not within the scope of a report such as this to review every strategic intervention, nor critically assess every challenge. However, a wide-ranging analysis of the current ‘state of mobility’ in the GCR, and the impact of key infrastructures – or the consequences of their absence – is warranted. Within the frame of the enormous scale of transport planning and infrastructure development underway, as well as the GCR’s many deep and enduring transport challenges, it is hoped that this report will make a contribution to understanding past and current trends, the impact of and (missed) opportunities in key infrastructure investments, and some of the key current priorities that need more attention in this new ‘golden age’ of transport planning.Written by Graeme Gotz et al for GCR

Urban Resilience Thinking for Municipalities

This document was prepared as a contribution to the Department of Science and Technology’s (DST’s) Grand Challenge on Global Change and as a complement to flagship initiatives such as the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas project (Archer, et al., 2010). The Global Change Grand Challenge is aimed at “supporting knowledge generation and technological innovation that will enable South Africa, Africa, and the world, to respond to global environmental change, including climate change” (Archer, et al., 2010, p. ii). While the Grand Challenge highlights the importance of science in supporting South Africa’s response to global change, it extends beyond a purely biophysical focus to acknowledge the importance of the social sciences. There is a clear understanding that the most compelling responses to global change will come through the combined efforts of the natural and social sciences. The DST therefore supports a number of research programmes across South Africa that draw on a wide range of scientific and academic fields in responding to specific challenges of global change across rural and urban –South Africa. One of the key thematic areas supported through the Grand Challenge is “urban resilience”. This is not at the expense of work on rural areas, as there are also a number of research programmes targeting rural South Africa, but it is recognition of both the threats posed by poorly managed urban areas and of the opportunities that towns and cities offer for greater resilience and sustainability.Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Department of Science and Technology, and the National Research Foundation, South Afric

Urban observatories and the governance of city-regions

The imperative for enhanced research and evaluation capabilities to inform the governance of city-regions is well acknowledged. Furthermore, a continuing intention lies in strengthening the relationship between academic research and the functions of city government. However, securing this collaboration effectively has proved elusive, not least because of the divergent purposes, cultures and rhythms of these institutions, and significant structural constraints that contribute to continuing insulations between them. Urban observatories can play critical roles in decision-making, providing research and analysis relevant to the successful implementation of many global commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda. The role of urban observatories has been specifically highlighted because of the need for reliable, high resolution urban datasets, specific to cities and the immediate city-regions within which they operate and effective knowledge exchange. While urban observatories are relatively well catalogued through activities such as the UN-Habitat Global Urban Observatory (GUO), there is a paucity of detailed information globally regarding the way in which these observatories operate, specifically: how they employ and manage partnerships, and which methodologies they use in creating, processing and disseminating their knowledge. This session aims to showcase, explore and promote discussion around the functions of existing institutions involved in the generation and analysis of data to support urban decision-making. The session will present both a global perspective on urban observatories, and focus in on a case study profiling the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), a research agency that exists as a partnership between two local universities, the Gauteng Provincial Government, and local municipalities in Gauteng, South Africa. The session is designed to strengthen the existing network of shared interest in evidence-based governance, and deepen effective practices within this space. In particular it builds on the UN Habitat III Urban Future event (October 2016, Quito), which was facilitated by STEaPP, GCRO and the Gauteng Provincial Government

Contrasting microfossil preservation and lake chemistries within the 1200–1000 Ma Torridonian Supergroup of NW Scotland

We acknowledge the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, a facility funded by the University, State and Commonwealth Governments. DW acknowledges funding from the European Commission and the Australian Research Council. This is publication number 838 from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems.Publisher PD

Made for performance : study of the mature poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins

This work is a study of the mature poetry and poetics of Gerard Manley Hopkins with particular reference to his own oft-stated view that his poetry was intended to be read aloud "with the ear" or to be performed. The study begins by placing Hopkins historically with regard to the effects on the European mind of printing, the work of Peter Ramus, and the subjective-objective dilemma which particularly perturbed the Romantic poets. Attention is especially given to Hopkins's relation with the seventeenth century. The conclusion is that with respect to these historical influences he belongs in the main to traditions which existed in full force in the Middle Ages and the Elizabethan era, though in many obvious respects he has the concerns typical of his age. Hopkins's speculations on language are then examined and some consideration given to the way these influenced his poetics and poetry; further, Hopkins's theories of knowledge and Being, in which language has a significant place, is also examined in relation to his poetic theories. Thereafter consideration is given to the development of Hopkins's ideas on the nature of the art he was writing, the kind of performance he envisaged for his poems, and the relationships these discussions suggest exist between poet, work and different types of audience. Before the main section of the thesis some attention is given to the influences Hopkins came under throughout his life and which gave his art and the poetic theory underlying it their particular nature. The main section consists of a detailed examination of the mature poetry, with special regard to Hopkins's rhythms, syntax, and various kinds of "counterpoint" he used, and the sound-structures of his verse - stanzaic forms and the complicated patterns of sound drawn largely from Welsh poetry. The aims of this part of the work are to describe how these features give the poems their dramatic character, to suggest ways in which the unusual nature of this poetry necessitates changes in our approach to it in terms of our critical assumptions, interpretation, and the kind of performance it requires, and to indicate how important these considerations are to any understanding or judgement of Hopkins's achievement. In the light of these discussions and the examination of the poems themselves, three major conclusions are reached. First, Hopkins's status as a major poet is felt to be justified in view of the achievement represented by Sprung Rhythm, his use of the sonnet form, his masterly poetic vision and craftsmanship, and many of the poems in a notably small canon, but in addition, these achievements embrace another, the fusion in his work of a number of vital, and in some cases opposed, traditions in English poetry - an achievement which makes him a particularly important poet in the development of poetry in English. In view of Hopkins's narrow range and lack of rich human sympathies, which are leading to qualifications of his work, this is a significant argument for his greatness. Secondly, his poems use a creative language of knowledge, comparable to our other ways of developing epistemologies such as science or logic, though it is more comprehensive in that it takes in the whole nature of man and the nature of its referents, And thirdly, the performance of Hopkins's poems is seen as the essential way by which the experience and knowledge offered by each is realised in the fullest and most vivid manner by the reader

Intelligent real-time monitoring of critical rail infrastructure

Rail networks are key national infrastructure assets, providing mass transport capability for both goods and passengers. The reliability of these networks is therefore critical to avoid widescale disruption. To ensure reliability, they must be effectively monitored and maintained. The monitoring of the structural health of the Rail network is challenging with rolling stock of different weights and speeds travelling on the same lines. Current structural health monitoring techniques are unable to effectively monitor in real time defects forming on the rail. Therefore, to ensure continued reliability of the rail network new monitoring methods must be found. This work investigates the use and advancement of acoustic emission techniques in monitoring the real time structural health of critical rail infrastructure. This work will focus on the monitoring of R220 and R260 grade steels used for plain track and cast manganese steel used for rail crossings. Acoustic emission is already used across a wide number of industries for the detection of crack growth. This work initially looks at the feasibility of a commercially available system, procured from Physical Acoustics for the monitoring of fatigue crack growth in rail steels. Three key acoustic parameters were focussed on, Energy, Duration and Counts. A good correlation was found between increasing crack growth and these parameters with increasing crack severity for both the R220 and R260 steels, and to a lesser extent with the cast manganese steel. This correlation shows the potential for applying these techniques to the monitoring of fatigue crack growth in the rail environment. It is proposed that these commercial systems are limited in their accuracy and capacity for real-time monitoring as the acoustic data is packaged into hits removing much of the available data. An alternative approach is therefore proposed using a customised acoustic emission monitoring system that captures and analysis the complete acoustic waveform. The volume of data generated using the custom system necessitated the use of automated analysis techniques. Machine learning techniques were therefore developed in this work to analyse and classify the acoustic emission data generated during fatigue testing under laboratory conditions. Three signal processing techniques where tested; FFT, RMS and CWT with both shallow and deep neural networks developed for the FFT and RMS processing routes. High prediction accuracy was achieved using the custom system with the FFT shallow neural network achieving an accuracy of 87.8%

Increasing knowledge of biodiversity on the Orphan Seamount: a new species of Tedania (Tedaniopsis) Dendy, 1924

A new Tedania species (Porifera) was collect using remotely operated vehicles during the Canadian mission HUD2010-029 and the British RRS Discovery Cruise DY081, on the Orphan Seamount near the Orphan Knoll, northwest Atlantic, between 2999.88 and 3450.4 m depth. Orphan Knoll is an isolated, drowned continental fragment 550 km northeast Newfoundland in the Labrador Sea. This region is biologically rich and complex and in 2007, the regional fisheries management organization operating in the area regulated that no vessel shall engage in bottom-contact fishing activities until reviewed in 2020 with a review slated at the end of this year. Members of the genus Tedania are uncommon in the temperate northern hemisphere with only six species known previously: Tedania (Tedania) anhelans; Tedania (Tedania) pilarriosae; Tedania (Tedania) suctoria; Tedania (Tedania) urgorrii; Tedania (Tedaniopsis) gurjanovae; and Tedania (Tedaniopsis) phacellina. The particular features of the new sponge we describe are the very peculiar external morphology which is tree-like with dichotomous branching—a morphology not previously described in this subgenus; and the combination of spicules found: long styles, the typical tornotes of the subgenus and two sizes of onychaetes. Additional information is provided on other species of Tedaniopsis described from the Atlantic Ocean. Based on the characteristics reported, we propose a new species, Tedania (Tedaniopsis) rappi sp. nov. in honor of Prof. Hans Tore Rapp (1972–2020), University of Bergen, Norway, a renowned sponge taxonomist and coordinator of the Horizon 2020 SponGES project. The holotype of T. (T.) phacellina Topsent, 1912 from the Azores, the only other northern Atlantic species in the subgenus Tedaniopsis, was reviewed for comparison.Postprin