SAIP2014

SAIP2014 Proceedings

Proceedings of SAIP2014, the 59th Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics

ISBN: 978-0-620-65391-6

Publication Date: 17 April 2015 (Original) and 27 May (Revised, see below)

The Proceedings of SAIP2014 will only be available electronically. The papers are ordered by SAIP Division and then alphabetically by first author surname. The PDF file of the Proceedings can be navigated from the Table of Contents by clicking on the appropriate paper title. Alt+left arrow navigates back to the previous view. All the content of the PDF file is searchable.
 

Citation information:

Author names, Title (optional), in Proceedings of SAIP2014, the 59th Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics, edited by Chris Engelbrecht and Steven Karataglidis (University of Johannesburg, 2015), pp. xxx - yyy. ISBN: 978-0-620-65391-6.
Available online at http://events.saip.org.za 
 

Complete SAIP2014 Proceedings

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• Original Proceedings PDF (96.1 MB and a total of 666 pages), (Published 17 April 2015)
• Revised Proceedings PDF (96.1 MB and a total of 667 pages), to be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader (Published 27 May 2015)

Errata (published on 27 May 2015)

The following changes were made:

• Image added on page 3 in Synthesis and characterization of the semiconducting intermetallic compound FeGa3 by M A M Ahmed, E Carleschi, G R Hearne and B P Doyle
• Correct manuscript version: Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified AGN in the Fermi 2LAC catalogue by L Klindt, P J Meintjes and B van Soelen
• Correct manuscript version: Search for Very High Energy candidate sources using South African observatories by B van Soelen, L Klindt, I P van der Westhuizen, P J Meintjes, M Böttcher, L Hanlon, M Topinka and P Väisänen

 

Full Research Papers from the SAIP2014 Proceedings

Division A – Division for Physics of Condensed Matter and Materials

 

Synthesis and characterization of the semiconducting intermetallic compound FeGa₃ (Revised version)
M A M Ahmed, E Carleschi, G R Hearne and B P Doyle

Superconductivity in LaRh₂Sn₂
D Britz and A M Strydom

Effect of Mo content on the structural and physical properties of Cr_100-xMo_x alloys
A U Chavan, A R E Prinsloo, C J Sheppard and B Muchono

Magnetic and thermodynamic properties of Ce₂₃Ru₇Mg₄ compound
J C Debnath, A M Strydom, O Niehaus and R Pöttgen

Can Shapiro step subharmonics be "charged"?
H Azemtsa Donfack, Y M Shukrinov and I R Rahmonov

Magnetic and Electronic studies on Cr_100-xIr_x alloy single crystals
P R Fernando, A R E Prinsloo and C J Sheppard

Combustion Synthesis of Dy³⁺-doped YVO₄ phosphor
K E Foka, B F Dejene and H C Swart

Pressure effects on the magnetic-electronic behavior of the local moment ferromagnet CeCuSi
G R Hearne, G Diguet, A M Strydom, B Sondezi-Mhlungu, K Kamenev, F Baudelet and L Nataf

Probing the magnetic order in (Cr₈₄Re₁₆)_100-yV_y alloys using neutron diffraction
B S Jacobs, A R E Prinsloo, C J Sheppard, A M Venter and H E Maynard-Casely

Electrical properties of epitaxial Cr_100-xCo_x(100) alloy thin films on MgO(100)
M B Kadam, C J Sheppard, A R E Prinsloo and E E Fullerton

Irradiation-induced improvement in crystalline quality of epitaxially grown InGaN thin films: A preliminary study
M Madhuku, G Husnain, I Ahmad and H Saleem

The effect of silver (Ag) dopant on the structural and optical properties of sol gel prepared CdO nanoparticles
M W Maswanganye, R V Makgobela, K E Rammutla, T E Mosuang and B W Mwakikunga

Electronic structures of oxygen adsorption on {110} nickel-rich pentlandite (Fe₄Ni₅S₈) mineral surface
P P Mkhonto, H R Chauke and P E Ngoepe

Influence of zinc acetate concentration in the preparation of ZnO nanoparticles via chemical bath deposition
F V Molefe, L F Koao, B F Dejene and H C Swart

Magnetic susceptibility studies of the (Cr_98.4Al_1.6)_100-xMo_x alloy system
B Muchono, C J Sheppard, A R E Prinsloo and H L Alberts

Residual stress in polycrystalline thin Cr films deposited on fused silica substrates
Z P Mudau, A R E Prinsloo, C J Sheppard, A M Venter, T P Ntsoane and E E Fullerton

Influence of solvent casting and weight ratios on the morphology and optical properties of inorganic-organic hybrid structures
T F G Muller, A Ramashia, D E Motaung, F R Cummings, G F Malgas and C J Arendse

Structural characterisation of aluminium and yttrium co-doped tin oxide
J N Ntimane, K E Rammutla and T E Mosuang

Structural and optical characterisation of double-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles
O O Nubi, K E Rammutla and T E Mosuang

Synthesis and magnetic-electronic characterization of mixed-valence LuFe₂O_4-δ: effect of stoichiometry δ
M A Peck, W N Sibanda, G Diguet, C Martin, E Carleschi and G R Hearne

A study of crack formation and its effect on internal surface area using Micro-Focus X-ray Computerised Tomography and Fractal Geometry
T Seakamela, G Nothnagel, F C de Beer and B P Doyle

Charge ordering dynamics under pressure in LuFe₂O₄
W N Sibanda, E Carleschi, G Diguet, C Martin and G R Hearne

Pressure induced charge order collapse in Fe₂OBO₃
W N Sibanda, E Carleschi, G Diguet, V Pischedda, J P Attfield and G R Hearne

Effects of catalyst:Ba molar ratio on the structure and luminescence properties of BaCO₃:1% Eu³⁺, 2% Dy³⁺ phosphors synthesized using sol-gel process
A S Tebele, S V Motloung and F B Dejene

Synthesis and characterisation of ZnO–CNFs hybrid nanostructures for hydrogen storage applications
C T Thethwayo, S E Mavundla, T G Nyawo, P N Mbuyisa and O M Ndwandwe

Characterization of cerium doped yttrium gadolinium aluminate garnet (Y-Gd)₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ phosphor thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition
A H Wako, F B Dejene and H C Swart

Division B – Nuclear, Particle and Radiation Physics

Single top quark production in association with the Higgs: a feasibility study
C Antel

Representation of the few-group homogenized cross sections of a MOX fuel assembly
S Chifamba, D Botes, P M Bokov and A Muronga

Towards a crystal undulator
S H Connell, J Härtwig, A Masvaure, D Mavunda and T N Tran Thi

The development of a General Purpose Processing Unit for the upgraded electronics of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter
M A Cox and B Mellado

Affordable and power efficient computing for high energy physics: CPU and FFT benchmarks of ARM processors
M A Cox, R Reed and B Mellado

Cluster model analysis of exotic decay in actinide nuclei
E J du Toit

Monte Carlo simulation of secondary gamma production during proton therapy for dose verification purposes
J Jeyasugiththan and S Peterson

Radiation hardness of plastic scintillators for the Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS detector
H Jivan, R Erasmus, B Mellado, G Peters, K Sekonya and E Sideras-Haddad

Coupled-channel studies of nucleon scattering from oxygen isotopes
S Karataglidis, J P Svenne, K Amos, L Canton, P R Fraser and D van der Knijff

Firmware development for the upgrade of the Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS detector
C O Kureba and B Mellado

Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson and its coupling to fermions with the ATLAS detector
C A Lee

Characterization of damage in in-situ radiated plastic scintillators at the Tile calorimeter of the ATLAS
L Maphanga, R Erasmus, H Jivan, B Mellado, G Peters and E Sideras-Haddad

Measurement of Higgs production in association with high p_T  jets with the ATLAS detector
B Mellado

The status of the LHeC project and its impact on Higgs Physics
B Mellado

Validation of the performance of Geant4 in the simulation of neutron induced reactions relevant to reactor studies
R Mudau, A Muronga and S Connell

Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis of plastic scintillators for the Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS detector
C Pelwan

An ATCA framework for the upgraded ATLAS read out electronics at the LHC
R Reed

The ATLAS Tile Calorimeter hybrid demonstrator
M Spoor and B Mellado Garcia

The Higgs as a portal to the hidden sector via an analysis of H –> Z_dZ_d –> 4l using the ATLAS detector
D A Unwuchola

Searching for BSM physics in Higgs to WW coupling with e⁺e^- collisions
S von Buddenbrock, A S Cornell and B Mellado

Memory performance of ARM processors and its relevance to High Energy Physics
T Wrigley, G Harmsen and B Mellado

Octupole Correlation and Collective Coupling in the rare earth nucleus ¹⁵⁴Dy
G L Zimba, S P Bvumbi, L P Masiteng, P Jones, S N T Majola, T S Dinoko, J F Sharpey-Schafer, E Lawrie, J J Lawrie, D Roux, P Papka, J E Easton, D Negi, O Shirinda and S Khumalo

Division C – Photonics

Propagation characteristics control by variation of PCF structural parameters
J F Jena, P Baricholo, T S Dlodlo and P K Buah-Bassuah

Division D1 – Astrophysics

Radio astronomy in Africa: the case of Ghana
B D Asabere, M J Gaylard, C Horellou, H Winkler and T Jarrett

Imaging & study of VLBI reference frame sources in the southern hemisphere
S Basu, A De Witt, J Quick, A Bertarini and L Leeuw

Weighing dark matter in brightest cluster galaxies
H Branken, S Loubser and K Sheth

The effect of an offset-dipole magnetic field on the Vela pulsar's γ-ray light curves
M Breed, C Venter, A K Harding and T J Johnson

Spectral studies of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars: constraining models at GeV energies
R J G Britto, S Razzaque and B Lott

DFT, LS or GLS? A ‘road test’ of three period-finding techniques applied to stellar photometry
C A Engelbrecht and F A M Frescura

A different approach to the perturbation of Astrophysical Fluids
F A M Frescura and C A Engelbrecht

Comparing the results of two CCD image reduction packages
R Kgoadi and C A Engelbrecht

Multi-wavelength classification of unidentified AGN in the Fermi 2LAC catalogue (Revised version)
L Klindt, P J Meintjes and B van Soelen

Neutrino events at IceCube and the Fermi bubbles
C Lunardini, S Razzaque and L Yang

Tidal effects on pulsation modes in close binaries
M Predieri, F A M Frescura and C A Engelbrecht

Comparison of photometric and spectroscopic parameters of eclipsing contact binary stars
P Skelton

Characterization of variable stars using the ASAS and SuperWASP databases
D P Smits

The excitation of pulsation modes in rapidly rotating main sequence Bstars
P van Heerden, C Engelbrecht and P Martinez

Spectral modelling of a H.E.S.S.-detected pulsar wind nebula
C van Rensburg, P Krüger and C Venter

Search for Very High Energy candidate sources using South African observatories (Revised version)
B van Soelen, L Klindt, I P van der Westhuizen, P J Meintjes, M Böttcher, L Hanlon, M Topinka and P Väisänen

Examining the behaviour of PKS 1424-418 during flaring
P van Zyl, M Gaylard and S Colafrancesco

Modelling the average spectrum expected from a population of gammaray globular clusters
C Venter and A Kopp

Spectral comparison between AGN at ɀ = 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3
H Winkler and J Tsuen

AUTOCAL: A software application for the calibration of stellar magnitudes
D J Wium and B van Soelen

Division D2 – Space Science

Influence of lightning on total electron content in the ionosphere using WWLLN lightning data and GPS data
M M Amin, M Inggs and P J Cilliers

Division E – Physics Education

Relationship between grade 10 learners’ views about nature of science and contextual factors
V M Baloyi, H I Nordhoff, W E Meyer, E Gaigher and M H W Braun

Learners’ conceptual resources for learning kinematics graphs
G Djan, M Lemmer and O N Morabe

Student understanding of DC circuits: fine grained issues
I John and S Allie

A CHAT perspective on the tensions and dynamics in the professional development of Physical Sciences teachers in a mentoring relationship
S Ramaila and U Ramnarain

First year university physics students’ perceptions of the teachinglearning environment: In search of a coherent pedagogic learning orientation
S Ramaila and U Ramnarain

Lesson planning perceptions and experiences of South African Physical Sciences teachers in a new curriculum
S Ramaila and U Ramnarain

Students’ perceptions of the study process
S Ramaila, L Reddy, P Nair and S Bvumbi

A critical assessment of first year entering university science students’ conceptual understanding
L Reddy, P Nair and S Ramaila

A triggering strategy for improved pass rate in software-managed evaluations of Physics practicals for the Engineering Programmes at the University of Johannesburg
L Reddy, P Nair, S Ramaila and J Oelofse

Division F – Applied Physics

A single DFB laser with multilevel directly modulated signal for high speed optical fibre communication system
T V Chabata, E K Rotich Kipnoo, R R G Gamatham, A W R Leitch and T B Gibbon

Overview of the Mineral-PET run-of-mine Diamond bearing rock sorter
M Cook, M Tchonang, E Chinaka, M Bhamjee, F Bornman and S H Connell

Interpretation of spectral electroluminescence images of photovoltaic modules using modelling
J L Crozier, E E van Dyk and F J Vorster

Reproducing observed solar radiation characteristics in tropical regions using stochastic theoretical models
M C Cyulinyana and H Winkler

Characterization of plume and thrust for the corona ionization space propulsion system
P Ferrer

Modelling flow phenomena in time dependent store release from transonic aircraft
D A MacLucas and I M A Gledhill

Polarization alignment system for quantum key distribution
M Mariola, A Mirza and F Petruccione

Simulation of the Egyptian 2nd Testing Research Reactor (ETRR-2) experimental benchmark in aid of verification and validation of the OSCAR-4 system
M Mashau, B Erasmus, R H Prinsloo and S H Connell

Analysis of a thermal conductivity measurement technique formulated as an inverse heat conduction problem
V Ramnath

A quantum circuit modeling toolkit for high performance computing
M Senekane, B Zulu and F Petruccione

The Alan Cousins Telescope - A robotic multi-purpose telescope for Sutherland
P van Heerden, P Martinez and C Engelbrecht

Using a VCSEL to accurately measure the chromatic dispersion in single mode fibre by the phase shift technique
S Wassin, E K Rotich Kipnoo, R R G Gamatham, A W R Leitch and T B Gibbon

Calculating solar irradiance to determine optimal angles of solar cells for De Aar
G Webber and H Winkler

Division G – Theoretical and Computational Physics

Evolution of quark masses and flavour mixings in the 2UED
A Abdalgabar and A S Cornell

Structural and electronic properties of iron doped technetium sulphide
M Abdulsalam and D P Joubert

An open quantum systems approach to Avian Magnetoreception
B Adams, I Sinayskiy and F Petruccione

Computer assisted ‘proof ’ of the global existence of periodic orbits in the Rössler system
A E Botha and W Dednam

Homogeneous open quantum walks on a line
R C Caballar, I Sinayskiy and F Petruccione

Properties of the quark-gluon plasma observed at RHIC and LHC
W A Horowitz

Finite-size key security of Phoenix-Barnett-Chefles 2000 quantum-key-distribution protocol
M Mafu, K Garapo and F Petruccione

Quark-gluon plasma physics from string theory
R Morad and W A Horowitz

First principle study of structural, thermal and electronic properties of the chalcopyrites AlAgX₂(X=S,Se,Te)
G M D Nguimdo and D P Joubert

Quantum Neural Networks - Our brain as a quantum computer?
M Schuld, I Sinayskiy and F Petruccione

The stochastic Schrödinger equation approach to open quantum systems
I Semina and F Petruccione

Molecular dynamics studies of some carbon nanotubes chiral structures
M Shai, T Mosuang and E Rammutla

Parallel benchmarks for ARM processors in the high energy context
J W Smith and A Hamilton

Methodology for the digital simulation of open quantum systems
R B Sweke, I Sinayskiy and F Petruccione

Entanglement of two distant nitrogen-vacancy-center ensembles under the action of squeezed microwave field
N Teper, L N Mbenza, I Sinayskiy and F Petruccione

Vacuum energies and frequency dependent interactions
H Weigel