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07 June 2018 Photo Prof CB Bousman, from Texas State University.
Quaternary International volume dedicated to UFS research fellow
Dr James Brink visits the Erfkroon site on the Modder River in the Free State.
The contents of a special issue of Quaternary International (QI), consisting of 13 articles and contributions by 45 authors (25 from abroad), was recently presented to Dr James Simpson Brink. The papers represent the broad range of topics covered by Dr Brink’s research interests.  

The special issue of QI was initiated to coincide with James Simpson Brink’s 60th birthday after he recently celebrated 35 years of ground-breaking research at the National Museum of Bloemfontein.

Dr Brink is affiliated to the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof Louis Scott, researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS, was the executive guest editor, and was part of a team of three guest editors (Dr Liora Horwitz from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Dr Daryl Codron from the National Museum in Bloemfontein) who worked on this special issue of the journal, QI. 

In honour of a friend and colleague
“Dr Brink made contributions to osteology, Quaternary palaeontology, and archaeozoology, by investigating the environments and mechanisms that drove the evolution of mammal communities of southern Africa,” said the guest editors. 

“By studying the morphology of the endemic black wildebeest he demonstrated how the species evolved in the central interior of South Africa. He pioneered descriptions and dating of faunal assemblages that make up the so-called ‘Cornelian’ and ‘Florisian’ Land Mammal Ages. In this way he reconstructed the long history of environments in which Stone Age occupants survived in the region. The work included the age determination of the cranium with facial bones of an individual who lived at Floribad around 250 000 years ago.

Work enabled more important studies
“Dr Brink contributed more than purely academic insights in that he built and curated the modern mammal and fossil faunal collections of the Florisbad Quaternary Research Station. These collections made it possible for researchers, who came from all over the world, to visit the Free State and focus on spatial and temporal palaeoenvironmental trends. Apart from contributing to the functional diversity of mammalian species, this enabled the investigation of morphological and behavioural variations across populations and communities,” said the editors.

The topics of the papers in this special issue of QI are interdisciplinary and include different methods in archaeology, vertebrate palaeontology and past (or palaeo-) environmental reconstruction. The ages dealt with range from the relatively recent Iron Age to the Oldowan period, which is over a million years old.

According to Prof Scott, with a degree of overlap in the interdisciplinary fields studied, the papers can be arranged into 1) taphonomy and archaeozoology, relating to the processes resulting in the formation and preservation of fossil material in archaeological sites, 2) Stone Age archaeology, dealing with artefacts, stratigraphy and palaeoanthropology, and 3) palaeoecology, that includes palaeontology, isotope studies and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.

The journal, published by Elsevier, will be distributed worldwide. 

News Archive

Getting out of the dark
2015-06-10

 

ESKOM is making daily announcements on the status of the power grid.

Anton Calitz, Electrical Engineer at University Estates, is in continuous contact with Eskom and Centlec in an effort to stay abreast of load shedding.

According to Anton, Eskom has recently - the week of 20 April - been focusing on the evening peak, and has announced STAGE 1 load shedding from 17:00-22:00; thus, the Bloemfontein Campus should be able to continue business as usual during the day, except for Thursdays from 18:00 and, possibly, Fridays from 17:00.

Where can I get more information about load shedding stages?

Apart from Eskom’s webpage, staff can also visit GRID WATCH. Click on "Search", then under "Schedules". Look for "Mangaung Local Municipality", and select "GROUP 4". Save this location. “This can even be loaded onto your mobile device.”

“The time slots can be seen for a couple of days in advance, to allow us to plan around the possibility of load shedding in our daily lives,” said Anton.

Please note: ESKOM can change the STAGE level at any time. Therefore, keep an eye on GRID WATCH and News24.

View the typical seven-day planner for the Bloemfontein Campus (Group 4), which indicates the STAGE 2 and 3 possibilities. Take note that, on some days, the STAGE 2 and 3 time slots are the same.

More load shedding tips: Your IT needs

The UFS Data Centre (Computer Room) is fully serviced by a generator facility, and can function without external power supply for a few days.

The generator servicing the UFS data centre does NOT provide power to the outlying facilities. This implies that all digital equipment at gates, booms, and access points will be shut down until the power is restored to these facilities. “We are now, in collaboration with Nico Janse van Rensburg, in a process to install UPS facilities at these points, which will ensure two to three hours of power supply at these points, even during load shedding,” said Dr Vic Coetzee, Senior Director: ICT Services.

No Wi-Fi will be available, as it is dependent on the power supply to the buildings where it is installed.

All servers are contained in the data centre, and will be kept running by our generators.

How to manage load shedding and your IT needs:

1. Get into the habit of saving your work regularly on computer so that you don’t lose your work/files during load shedding.
2. Back up important data. Keep to a schedule of regular back-up.  Make sure your computer back-ups are safe and recoverable.
3. Keep all electronic devices charged and ready to run on battery power. Keep your cellphone charged: some old-style Telkom landlines will still operate during power outages, but others won't.
4. Remember, when power supply is restored, it sometimes happens that a power surge is sent through the network, which will damage your computer.  Fortunately, laptop computers will not suffer this fate as their power is provided through an external power pack. Often, this power pack will be damaged, but not the laptop itself.
5. It makes good sense to reboot your computer daily, not only in terms of power shedding, but also in terms of updating the drivers, software, etc.
6. Switch off all computers and other electrical equipment at the wall plug overnight and on weekends.
7. Should your IT equipment not switch on after a power outage, log a call with the ICT Services. You can also call them at x2000.

More information, guidelines and contact numbers

 

 

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