Nature And Properties Of Soils

1. Contracting In. 2. Patriarchal Confusions. 3. Contract, the Individual and Slavery. 4. Genesis, Fathers and the Political Liberty of Sons. 5. Wives, Slaves and Wage-Slaves. 6. Feminism and the Marriage Contract. 7. What's Wrong with Prostitution?

The Sexual Contract

Spectroscopy is the study of matter interacting with electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light). The electromagnetic spectrum in Figure 1 illustrates the many different types of electromagnetic radiation, including gamma rays (γ-rays), X-rays, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, visible light, infrared (IR) radiation, microwaves, and radio waves. The frequency (ν) and wavelength (λ) ranges associated with each form of radiant energy are also indicated in Figure 1.

Introduction to Spectroscopy

The Google Earth Engine (GEE) portal provides enhanced opportunities for undertaking earth observation studies Established towards the end of 2010, it provides access to satellite and other ancillary data, cloud computing, and algorithms for processing large amounts of data with relative ease However, the uptake and usage of the opportunity remains varied and unclear This study was undertaken to investigate the usage patterns of the Google Earth Engine platform and whether researchers in developing countries were making use of the opportunity Analysis of published literature showed that a total of 300 journal papers were published between 2011 and June 2017 that used GEE in their research, spread across 158 journals The highest number of papers were in the journal Remote Sensing, followed by Remote Sensing of Environment There were also a number of papers in premium journals such as Nature and Science The application areas were quite varied, ranging from forest and vegetation studies to medical fields such as malaria Landsat was the most widely used dataset; it is the biggest component of the GEE data portal, with data from the first to the current Landsat series available for use and download Examination of data also showed that the usage was dominated by institutions based in developed nations, with study sites mainly in developed nations There were very few studies originating from institutions based in less developed nations and those that targeted less developed nations, particularly in the African continent

/pdf/google-earth-engine-applications-since-inception-usage-6d5rfejln1.pdf

Google Earth Engine Applications Since Inception: Usage, Trends, and Potential

Intra-annual reflectance composites from Sentinel-2 and Landsat for national-scale crop and land cover mapping

Model-based integrated methods for quantitative estimation of soil salinity from hyperspectral remote sensing data: A case study of selected South African soils

The aim of this article is to establish whether there is anything intrinsically immoral about surrogacy arrangements from the perspective of the surrogate mother herself. Specific attention is paid to the claim that surrogacy is similar to prostitution in that it reduces women's reproductive labour to a form of alienated and/or dehumanized labour.

https://jme.bmj.com/content/medethics/21/6/345.full.pdf

The ethics of surrogacy: women's reproductive labour.

Evaluation of a rule-based compositing technique for Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ images

In this study the commonalities and inconsistencies between three Geographical Information Science (GISc) competency sets are used to develop a new framework of essential competencies that can be used for curricula development at South African universities that meet local and international requirements. A prototype GISc framework of 16 knowledge areas (KAs), consisting of 20 fundamental and 89 core competencies, was introduced to a group of GISc experts to gauge its usefulness and to determine the relative importance of specific KAs. The responses showed that some KAs, in particular Physics and Organisational and Institutional Aspects are considered less important than Data Modelling and Geospatial Data . However, all the KAs were considered essential by the workshop participants for inclusion in the GISc framework. A simple algorithm was developed and implemented to determine whether a particular competency should be included in the GISc framework. The new framework is an extension of the Geographical Information Science and Technology (GI S&T) Body of Knowledge (BoK) and consists of 14 KAs and can be used to develop curricula that meet the requirements of the South African and international GISc industries.

/pdf/a-new-gisc-framework-and-competency-set-for-curricula-2lg1acd2i7.pdf

A New GISc Framework and Competency Set for Curricula Development at South African Universities

There is a high incidence of melanism among the cordylid lizards of Africa and it was suggested that melanism has a thermoregulatory function in these species. One prediction of the thermal melanism hypothesis would be that melanistic cordylid species would be restricted to cool environments. The aim of our study was to determine the climatic conditions with which melanistic cordylids are currently associated. Distributional data for the eight melanistic cordylid taxa occurring at the south-western tip of Africa were obtained from the CapeNature State of Biodiversity database. Using GIS and principal component analyses, the climatic variables best describing the geographical distribution of melanistic cordylids were investigated. We found that several melanistic cordylid populations show a distinct association with a high incidence of fog and cloud cover, underscoring the thermal melanism hypothesis. Several other populations, however, do not show such an association. We conclude that some species, such as Pseudocordylus capensis, have a morphology that provides them with great flexibility in habitat use, allowing them to overcome the constraints of melanism in warm environments. The available information suggests that melanism in cordylids evolved during the Miocene in response to the development of the cold Benguela Current along the west coast of Africa. We also conclude that viviparity, a sit-and-wait foraging strategy and a rock-dwelling lifestyle would have preadapted cordylids for survival in cool conditions brought about by the development of the cold Benguela Current. These conditions would have been unfavourable for oviparous, active-foraging lizards. The co-occurrence of melanistic lizards and melanistic molluscs at the Landdroskop locality casts some doubt on improved heating rates as the only explanation for melanism in cordylids, because molluscs are not heliothermic baskers.

A. van Niekerk

Papers

Model-based integrated methods for quantitative estimation of soil salinity from hyperspectral remote sensing data: A case study of selected South African soils

The ethics of surrogacy: women's reproductive labour.

Evaluation of a rule-based compositing technique for Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ images

A New GISc Framework and Competency Set for Curricula Development at South African Universities

Why cordylid lizards are black at the south‐western tip of Africa