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The aim of the paper was to analyze factors affecting domestic water consumption in Thohoyandou, Limpopo province, South Africa. A structured questionnaire was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data in the study area. A total sample of 100 households participated in answering the questionnaire. The results of the analysis found that average bath water consumption was 122 l/c/d, toilet flushing was 26 l/c/d, drinking and food preparation was 20 l/c/d, washing clothes was 5 l/c/d, washing cars was 2.5 l/c/d and home gardening was 6 l/c/d. The average water consumption of one household in the area was 190 l/c/d. Factors influencing water consumption in Thohoyandou were: education level of household head, age of household head, occupation of household head, gender of household head, family size, and tariff. SPSS performed correlation matrix and it was used to analyze factors affecting water consumption. Correlation matrix results showed that education level of household head was −0.627**, family size was 0.947**, tariff was 0.533**, female household heads was 0.647**, male household heads was (−0.634**), and age of household heads was (0.372**). Education level of household head results showed a negative correlation in all sub areas. The consequences of having more household heads with a low level of education was high water consumption, which is not in line with the Water Conservation Act. The contribution of the research was that household heads who have a high level of education typically consume less water than household heads who have a low level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal infrastructure asset operations and maintenance are critical for municipalities to provide basic services to communities in South Africa. The paper discusses the performance of municipal assets using Key Informants and literature review based on three metropolitan areas in Gauteng province and four rural municipalities in Limpopo province of South Africa focusing on asset operations and maintenance. Municipal assets in South Africa are saddled with poor performance because the infrastructure is aging in a context of rapid urbanisation and population growth and this impacts on the level of service delivery to the communities. The method used to analyse and unpack the findings were obtained from the review of literature and information obtained from Key Informants. The major official documents used includes the Sector Plans, Spatial Developments Frameworks, Integrated Development Plans as well as the review of books and journals on the general performance of the metros and rural municipalities with respect to municipal asset operations and maintenance. The information obtained from the Key Informants was used to refute or confirm the notion from the literature reviewed that inadequate operations and maintenance of municipal assets contribute to under performance in the provision of basic service delivery to the communities. The study shows that insufficient funding and low revenue base of the municipalities impacts on the renewal of municipal assets and provision of basic services to the communities in both metros and rural municipalities. The study recommends appropriate systems and asset management practices that can be put in place to improve on the under-performance of operations and maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a comprehensive coal property (chemical, mineralogical, physical, and petrographic) study was conducted using a caking coal from South Africa, density cuts and pyrolyzed samples to understand the % coal caking during pyrolysis. Coal particles of 4, 8, and 10 mm in diameters from the coal feed and its density cuts were pyrolyzed at 0.87, 15, and 30 bar and 450°C and 550°C in the North-West University Fischer assay oven under N2 for 15 min. The results for the samples show that the effects of particle size, temperature, pressure, and vitrinite and inorganic element carboxylate contents on the % caking of coal particles contribute significantly during pyrolysis. The mechanistic model shows that float coal particles soften, swell, melt, and coalesce during the pyrolysis tests. This model also shows that kaolinite and inertinite in the sink and <1.9 g/cm3 float particles fragment to non-caking particles. The statistical model using Free-Swelling Index, petrographic, and electron microprobe results achieves the highest coefficient of R2 = 0.99. These models can be used to predict coal caking degree and the non-caking of coal particles during pyrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major causes of the problems affecting evolution education is a lack of acceptance of this concept, particularly by some people who have strongly entrenched religious beliefs. This paper reports on a section of a study which explored the influence of the beliefs of learners in some secondary schools from the Vhembe District in the northern Limpopo Province, South Africa, on the teaching and learning of biological evolution. A questionnaire was administered to Grade 12 learners studying life sciences to which 348 responded. Data were analysed to provide descriptive and inferential data for analysis. Findings indicated moderate acceptance of evolution by the learners. Some of the factors which showed an association with learners’ acceptance included: learners’ religious beliefs, age and the time since they had first heard of evolution. Although some learners experienced conflict between their religious beliefs and evolution, the findings showed that most were willing to learn about it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]