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12 February 2018 Photo Supplied
Get your blend of rock and legal with the Kovsie FM Breakfast Show
Richard and Fifi from the Kovsie FM Breakfast Show

Richard Chemaly completed a BCom degree at the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2010 before he enrolled for an LLB, and is currently doing an LLM in legal philosophy. He was also a familiar face on campus as SRC President. After jetting around the world, Richard is back in Bloemfontein. Since becoming a DJ for the Breakfast Show at Kovsie FM, he is now responsible for starting the day for listeners on a good note.

Blending law and entertainment fell into my lap. After locking up my Hillbrow apartment, I travelled for a year, accidentally fell in love and moved back to Bloemfontein. Nobody wanted to hire me. Could have been my unconventional Facebook presence, or appearing on ANN7… I don’t know. I was already in the entertainment field because one of my business partners and I started a beer distribution company, which got us a lot of free beer. We then realised that if we started an entertainment blog, which we did, we’d get free access to cool parties, which we did. It just made sense to venture into entertainment law, which suited my personality.

Radio was never my thing, and I have always regretted that. Music was always my thing, though, so the transition was easy. My co-host, Fifi, is my polar opposite. As a young black female who likes old R&B, trap and alternative pop, she brings everything I can’t as an old, hairy Lebanese punk-rocking dude. The dynamic is incredible.

I’m a big lover of mornings and I try to get in an early morning jog and hunting for geocaches before I aim to make even the grumpiest morning listener smile. With an exceptional knowledge of current affairs, it is easy to get across to our diverse listenership. Quick wit and my co-presenter also help! The Breakfast Show sets the tone for the day, and we get good feedback.

I would still like to take over the Musicon and become a pilot. 

News Archive

UFS researcher engineers metal surfaces
2015-03-03

Shaun Cronjé, a PhD student, in a surface characterisation laboratory at the UFS.

It is well known that the surface of a component is much more vulnerable to damage than the interior, and that surface-originated degradation such as wear, corrosion, and fracture will eventually destroy the component.

“Engineering the surface, based on scientific knowledge, is essential to control these damaging processes. It also creates electronic and geometric structures on the surface which opens up a world of new devices, especially considering the properties on the nano-length scale,” said Prof Wiets Roos from the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS).

At elevated temperatures, atoms are more mobile and can migrate to grain boundaries and surfaces, which have a major influence on material properties. The redistribution of solute atoms between the surface and the bulk of the material is known as segregation. Knowing the behaviour of segregation at the surface/environment interface can be very useful in the development of new materials. As an example materials can be improved higher efficiency and lower fuel consumption, thus reducing environmental pollution.

The main aims of Prof Roos’s research are to understand surface segregation, use it as a tool, and contribute to the various surface engineering fields.

The surface characterisation laboratories at the UFS are well equipped to do high temperature segregation measurements, and have already proven a success, not only in the ability to prepare the specimens for characterisation, but also in developing models and procedures to quantify the segregation parameters.

The most recent results have demonstrated the importance of taking evaporation into account during quantification.” This has laid the foundation for future studies by installing the necessary hardware in a surface characterisation spectrometer, establishing experimental protocols, and improving an existing model (developed in this laboratory) for simulating segregation profiles,” said Prof Roos.

Segregation parameters allow the researcher to predict and utilise the surface concentration behaviour as a function of temperature and time. “This not only contributes to fields involving corrosion, oxidation, sintering, wear, chemical poisoning, powder metallurgy, and lubrication but adds to the development of self-healing devices,” said Prof Roos.

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