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The palaeokarst system of Bolt's Farm, Gauteng Province, South Africa, is endowed with numerous fossiliferous Plio-Pleistocene deposits. Among them, the mid-Pliocene locus of BPA (Brad Pit A) has yielded a hypsodont upper molar which exhibits a rodent-like wear pattern, but is not a rodent. In several aspects, it recalls macroscelidids and could fit in occlusal morphology with the lower teeth of Mylomygale spiersi , described on the basis of a mandible from Norlim Cave close to the Taung Limeworks, which yielded the holotype of Australopithecus africanus. This upper molar could be attributed to Mylomygale , a taxon represented by only three specimens. The hypsodonty of the molar and the wear pattern suggest that, at Bolt's Farm, Mylomygale was feeding on tough food and that some herbaceous patches might have occurred in the environment. Moreover our scans reveal that the holotype of Mylomygale possessed an m/3, previously unrecognized. • The paper interprets a new specimen from Pliocene deposits at Bolt's Farm (South Africa) attributed to Mylomygale , an extinct genus of sengi. • It is of special interest for two reasons - Mylomygale is known by only two other specimens of uncertain age; the Bolt's Farm specimen is the first recorded upper tooth of this micro-cursorial mammal. • The new specimen suggests that Mylomygale is possibly linked phylogenetically to Early Miocene Myohyracidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: South Africa’s Disability Grant (DG) program has been criticized for its poor administration and the dependency culture it promotes. This paper assesses the program’s targeting effectiveness and its effects on labor supply. Using disability self-reports and standard measures of economic well being, the results suggest that DG’s inclusion errors are relatively limited but exclusion errors are substantial and serious. The paper also shows that increased leniency in disability screening policy in the Gauteng province in the early 2000s does not appear to have altered labor market behaviors relative to Northern Cape, a province where there was no change in policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Wastewater treatment facilities are often overlooked as a valuable and sustainable energy source with limited literature available on the methodologies used for identifying energy recovery potential at these locations. The lack of research on methodologies to identify potential for energy recovery with limited available data is especially prevalent. This paper aims to address this gap in research by reviewing previous studies that have evaluated the hydropower potential, with a focus specifically on the evaluation of hydropower potential at wastewater treatment works and the technologies most suitable for these sites. Additionally a new methodology was proposed for the assessment of South African wastewater treatment works with the aim of quantifying the potential of this unconventional opportunity when limited access to data poses a challenge. The developed wastewater treatment works evaluation framework was applied to all municipal wastewater treatment works in the Gauteng province to identify a first order estimate of 130 kW–884 kW hydropower potential available in the province. • Review of hydropower evaluation methods. • Review of hydropower technologies at wastewater treatment works. • Generic wastewater treatment works evaluation framework to quantify potential. • Criteria within the framework alleviate problems associated with limited data. • Framework criteria are validated according to the study area under investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To address the underreporting of freight from a transport geography point of view, we present a novel analysis of the time and spatial characteristics of disaggregated commercial vehicle activities. The activities were extracted from raw global positioning system (GPS) data collected in South Africa over a six-month period for more than 30,000 commercial vehicles. The analyses of the activity chains provide useful characteristics such as activity and chain durations, number of activities per chain, and the spatial extent of the activity chains. Key results indicate that about 60% of activity chains have between 5 and 15 activities per chain while 25% of the chains have 4 or less; 89% of the chains have a duration of 24 hours or less; and approximately 75% of all activities start between 08:00 and 17:00. The paper’s contribution is twofold: it firstly demonstrates a methodology to extract and evaluate vehicle activities and activity chains from raw GPS data. Novel results and characteristics about transport geographies in Gauteng, the economic centre of South Africa, are presented. We also report on the sensitivity of the analyses to certain parameters. Secondly, we introduce new metrics to evaluate a geographical area’s economic productivity based on commercial activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Drimolen is one of the newest and most productive hominin sites in South Africa, and is dated on faunal grounds between 2.0Ma to 1.5Ma. This paper provides the first overview of the Carnivora from Drimolen, updating the previously published preliminary faunal list, and describing all currently prepared craniodental and postcranial material. The Drimolen specimens are described in comparison with other modern and fossil South African carnivore material. The carnivores cover a range of taxa including hyaenids, felids, canids and herpestids. Most notable amongst these are the sabretooth Dinofelis aff. piveteaui craniodental and postcranial remains, which are described in detail, and a Chasmaporthetes nitidula cranium. The genus Chasmaporthetes is found at three other sites in the area – Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Coopers D. There are two models for the geographic origin of Dinofelis piveteaui, in that it may have arisen in either eastern or southern Africa. These possibilities are discussed in the light of the new South African Dinofelis material, as the Drimolen material appears to represent a more primitive form with affinities with D. piveteaui. Fossil leopard material from Kromdraai B and Drimolen is also discussed, as the metapodia assigned to P. pardus from these two sites are very small, but lie within the variation of modern leopards. Such size differences in fossil postcrania may have implications for the niches that these animals may have occupied in the past. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]