'Leaders like children playing with a grenade?' : an analysis of how the Arab Spring was received in South Africa
- Authors: Gevers, Tristan Ronald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Arab Spring, 2010- Revolutions -- Theory Arab countries -- Social conditions -- 21st century South Africa -- Social condtions -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2846 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006031
- Description: When the Arab Spring took place, it took the world by surprise and sparked renewed interest in the idea of revolution. With differing opinions on what caused such a revolutionary wave throughout the North African and Middle Eastern region, many began looking at their own countries, and South Africa was no different. A debate was sparked in South Africa, as to whether there would be a revolution or not. What I originally set out to accomplish is to find out which side of the debate would be correct through the philosophical context of revolutionary theory. Initially, we attempted to define and consider the history of revolutionary theory. We found that revolutionary theory has gone through four generation and that even finding a theoretically informed definition is difficult. Following this, we considered some social-psychological theories of revolution as well as theories of moral indignation. We found that these theories were incredibly informative and that they provide some insight into the reasoning for revolutionary fear in the South African debate. Through the use of opinion pieces, we then considered the South African debate, and – using socialpsychological theories and the theories of moral indignation - found that both sides of the argument had valuable points, however, they often lacked some foresight. With tentative agreement, we found that the side arguing that there would a revolution in South Africa had a more valuable argument, despite its limitations. However, far more research is required before one can – with more accuracy – predict a revolutionary occurrence in such a way as was done in South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Evaluation of eucalyptus citriodora derived p-menthane-3,8-diol-citronellal acetal as a bio-plasticizer for cosmetic application
- Authors: Burger, Kirstin
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Plasticizers , Eucalyptus citriodora
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10420 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1014080
- Description: Plasticizers are generally added to cosmetic and personal care products to improve the filmforming abilities of the product and increase flexibility of the film formed on the skin or hair surface. For example, plasticizers are present in perfumes to prolong the release of the specific scent, which is the ultimate goal in a good quality perfume. Plasticizers in nail varnishes prevent chipping, improve the aesthetics by adhering to the keratin in the nail which means the coating stays on for much longer, which is the ultimate goal in nail products. Plasticizers improve the gloss, resist chipping and allow quick drying time. Therefore it can be seen that plasticizers play a vital role in personal care products like perfumes and nail varnishes. Certain plasticizers e.g. phthalates, can cause problems associated with human health and can harm the environment. They are easily available and large volumes can be obtained at a low cost. These phthalates, for example, di-butyl phthalate (DBP) have been identified as carcinogenic. Nowadays the occurrence of cancer is rapidly increasing. The plasticizers present in a large number of consumer and personal care products, can possibly be linked to the ever increasing reports of cancer. Therefore a substitute to the traditional phthalate plasticizers must be investigated. The aim of this research is to produce a plasticizer derived from naturally occurring Eucalyptus oil, which can be used to replace the existing plasticizers in cosmetic formulations. Para-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD), occurring naturally in the oil from the tree, Eucalyptus citriodora, forms an acetal with citronellal (PMD, acetal, citronellal all occur naturally in the oil). It has been previously shown that PMD-citronellal acetal will exhibit plasticizing properties similar to conventional plasticizers. The objective was to enhance the formation of the acetal in the Eucalyptus oil by reacting it with excess PMD. An effective synthesis method for the PMD-citronellal acetal enriched oil (~73.8 percent) was determined from optimization experiments. The physical characterisation of the PMD-citronellal acetal enriched oil was done and compared with that of DBP. The acetal-enriched oil had a lower density, slightly higher solubility in water (at 25°C), lower refractive index (Brix percent) and a higher boiling point (350°C) than DBP. The physical characteristics of the Eucalyptus oil source and the acetal-enriched Eucalyptus oil were very similar. This can be expected as the Eucalyptus oil consists of ~84.3 percent Citronellal, ~ 1.3 percent PMD and 2.7 percent PMD-citronellal acetal. In this study the effectiveness of the acetal-enriched Eucalyptus oil (referred to from now on as the bio-plasticizer) was compared to a conventional plasticizer such as di-butyl phthalate (DBP), commonly used in cosmetic products. Two cosmetic formulations were produced: a nail varnish and a perfume formulation. Various tests were performed on these formulations to investigate the plasticizing properties of the bio-plasticizer. The objectives were to determine if the natural plasticizer is as effective as the potentially carcinogenic phthalate plasticizers and can be used as a substitute for the phthalates in personal care products. The results indicate that the bio-plasticizer does behave similarly to di-butyl phthalate, however, the effectiveness of the bio-plasticizer is lower than that of di-butyl phthalate. As the viscosity of the synthesized oil was high, this affected the overall consistency of the products. A more viscous nail varnish and perfume was produced in comparison to the DBP counterpart. The stability of the bio-plasticizer in the cosmetic formulations of nail varnish and perfume was also investigated. The cosmetic products were incubated at 0°C, 25°C and 40°C over a period of two months. Any changes in colour, odour, pH, refractive index, separation and plasticizer peak change in the gas chromatogram trace were recorded. It was determined that the PMD-citronellal acetal-enriched oil was relatively unstable under elevated temperatures and light intensity. Storage under higher temperatures (40°C) tends to increase the acidity. Therefore the bio-plasticizer must be placed in a closed, covered bottle and stored in an environment away from light and elevated temperatures. According to the gas chromatogram peaks, it was clear that both the bio-plasticizer and the DBP were more unstable in the perfume formulation than in the nail polish and were especially sensitive to light when in the perfume. This could possibly be due to the interaction with the fragrance molecule, p-anisaldehyde.
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- Date Issued: 2013