SASGI 2013 Stylesheet for Full-Text Papers

SASGI 2013 stylesheet for full-text papers

Consistency

• Some of the “rules” below are not based on right or wrong practice, but are given to ensure a consistent and high standard within a news item, technical article, journal, and across all our journals
• However many of the rules are in fact absolutely essential for correct technical, grammatical and aesthetic content
• Style and layout consistency, correctness and production quality are very important factors to readers who come from a scientific, academic, technical and engineering background
• The use of templates and style sheets is therefore critical to ensuring the required style and layout consistency and production quality
• Every effort should therefore be made to comply with these guidelines

Dates

Date format: Day Month Year

Correct examples:

25 May 2004

13 June

Incorrect examples:

25 May 04

25th May 2004

May 25th, 2004

25-5-04

25/5/2004

2004/05/25

Times

Time format: 24 hour format

Correct examples:

11h25

14h30

12h00

24h00

Incorrect examples:

11h25 pm

14H30

14:30

12 noon

2.30 am

Phone numbers

• Do not split phone numbers on separate lines

• Local phone numbers should include the area code, followed by a space, then the phone number with a hyphen in the right place e.g. 011 659-0504
• Avoid the use of international phone numbers (us email address instead). However, where used, international phone numbers should include the plus sign, followed immediately by the country code, then a space, then the city code without the preceding zero, then a space, then the phone number with a hyphen in the right place

e.g. +44 1 4340-1254

• Cell phone numbers should not use any brackets. Leave a space after the first three digits of the service provider code, followed by the first three digits of the number itself, then a hyphen, then the remaining 4 digits of the number e.g. 083290-0442
• Toll free phone numbers should not use any brackets or hyphens, instead use a space after the first three digits and again a space after the first 3 digits of the number itself e.g. 0800 203199
• Where possible do not use international phone numbers, rather use email addresses only
• Where possible do not use cell phone numbers, rather use land line numbers only

Correct examples:

011 659-0504

+44 1 4340-1254

083290-0442

0800 203 199

Incorrect examples:

659-0504

011 6590504

0116590504

+27 (011) 659-0504

(+44 1) 4340-1254

09441 4340-1254

+44 (1) 4340-1254

(083) 290-0442

083-2900442

0832900442

0800203199

(0800) 203-199

0800-203-199

Email addresses

• Do not split email addresses on separate lines
• Use lower case throughout
• Do not underline email addresses

Correct examples:

Incorrect examples:

Website addresses

• Avoid the use of website addresses in the contact details
• Do not split website addresses on separate lines, unless this is unavoidable
• Use lower case throughout
• In general, underline web addresses

Correct examples:

Incorrect examples:

Company names

• Company names need to be used with discretion and not repetitively
• Avoid capitalisation for effect – use capitalisation only when really part of the company name e.g. ABB, ALSTOM
• Avoid use of lower case for effect e.g. do not use “the dti” but instead use “the DTI”
• Avoid using the business form after the company name (e.g. do not use Ltd; (Pty) Ltd; Inc.; cc; Pvt, Plc, Gmbh, etc.)
• Avoid company names in the title of a paper for promotional purposes. Only use a company name in the title if this absolutely essential to the essence of the paper.

Brand names, product names and trademarks

• Brand names, product names and trademarks need to be used with discretion and not repetitively
• Avoid capitalisation for effect – use capitalisation only when really part of the brand name, product name or trademark
• Avoid lower case for effect
• Avoid using the copyright, trademark or registered trademark symbols (©,™, ®) symbols after brand names, product names or trademarks
• Avoid brand names, product names and trademarks in the title of an article for promotional purposes unless the brand name, product name or trademark is absolutely essential to the essence of the paper.

Use of names and titles

• Generally always use the higher titles Dr. and Prof. (e.g. use Prof. Duncan Baker not Duncan Baker; use Prof. Baker, not Baker)

• Generally avoid the common titles Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Miss. (e.g. use Chris Yelland, not Mr. Chris Yelland; use Yelland not Mr. Yelland)
• In the first use of a name in an article, use the higher title (where applicable), first name and surname and thereafter just the higher title (where applicable) and surname (e.g. use Chris Yelland at first usage and thereafter just Yelland; use Prof. Duncan Baker at first usage and thereafter just Prof. Baker)
• Where used without a first name, surnames like Van der Merwe, De Beer, De Villiers, etc., should start with a capital letter. But where used with a first name, the first letter of these surnames should not start with a capital letter e.g. use Jan de Beer, not Jan De Beer; use Piet van der Merwe, not Piet Van der Merwe; use Dr. De Villiers, not Dr. de Villiers; use Van der Merwe, not van der Merwe.
• Always use the correct abbreviations of the higher titles Dr. and Prof. and do not use the full words Doctor or Professor as titles (i.e. use Prof. Baker and not Prof Baker or Professor Baker)

Job descriptions

• Avoid capital letters in a job description (e.g. use Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, and not Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa; use Alec Erwin, minister of Public Enterprises, and not Alec Erwin, Minister of Public Enterprises)
• Use a capital letter for titles (e.g. use President Thabo Mbeki and not president Thabo Mbeki; use Minister Alec Erwin, and not minister Alec Erwin)
• Where possible use the abbreviations of common job descriptions given below (e.g. use Chris Yelland, MD of EE Publishers and not Chris Yelland, managing director of EE Publishers; use MD Chris Yelland, not managing director Chris Yelland)

Common job descriptions and their abbreviations are as follows:

MDmanaging director

CEchief executive

CEOchief executive officer

COOchief operating officer

CFOchief financial officer

DGdirector general

DDGdeputy director general

GMgeneral manager

Some common job descriptions (lower case) without abbreviations are as follows:

minister

deputy minister

chairman

president

vice president

deputy president

chairperson

director

general manager

manager

financial manager

chief engineer

engineering manager

sales manager

marketing manager

Capitalisation

• In sentences, only use a capital letter for the first letter of the sentence and the first letter of proper nouns in the sentence (titles, first names, surnames, place names, countries, etc.)
• For titles of articles and news items, only use a capital letter for the first letter of the title and the first letter of proper nouns in the title (place names, countries, etc.)
• Avoid full capitalisation for effect of company names, product names, brand names, etc., unless this is really the correct usage (e.g. use Wika Instruments and not WIKA Instruments; use ABB and not Abb)
• Avoid capital letters in a job description (e.g. use Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, and not Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa). See above regarding capitalised abbreviations of certain job descriptions.
• Use a capital letter for titles (e.g. use President Thabo Mbeki and not president Thabo Mbeki; use Minister Alec Erwin, and not minister Alec Erwin)
• The words “internet”, “extranet’, “intranet” should not be treated as proper nouns, and should therefore not start with a capital letter

Numbers

• In general, the numbers one to twelve, when not used in a scientific way, and when no units or decimal comma is involved, should be typed out as a word (e.g. use three apples, not 3 apples; use twelve apostles, not 12 apostles)
• In general, numbers greater than twelve, when not used in a scientific way, and when no units or decimal comma is involved, should not be typed out as a word but typed as a number (e.g. use 15 apples, not fifteen apples)
• Always use a decimal comma and not a decimal point (e.g. use 15,3 and not 15.3)

• To make reading of the large numbers easier, always use a “hard” character space (not a comma) as a separator every three digits before and after the decimal comma (e.g. use 12 000,13 and not 12,000.13; use 12,00123 and not 12,00123)

• Do not split a number onto two lines (use of a “hard” character space as a separator every three digits before and/or after the decimal comma will avoid this)

• Do not use very large numbers with lots of trailing zeros. In scientific text, use the exponential form to shorten very large numbers (e.g. use 2,36 x 107 and not 23600000; use 4,556 x 1010 and not 45560000000)
• Alternatively, in non scientific text, use the words million or billion to shorten very large numbers

(e.g. use 23,6-million and not 23600000; use 45-billion and not 45000000000)

• Always use a hyphen between the number and the word million or billion (e.g. use 23,6-million and not 23,6 million; use 45-billion and not 45billion)
• Similarly, do not use very small numbers with lots of preceding zeros after the decimal comma. Use the exponential form to shorten very small numbers (e.g. use 2, 36x10-7 and not 0,000000236; use 4,556x10-10 and not 0,0000000004556)

Currency values

• Always use the relevant currency symbols followed immediately by the number, without a space between the currency symbol and the number (e.g. use R234 and not R 234; use R124,36 and not R124,36)
• Do not include the two digits after the decimal comma if these are zeros (e.g. use R23 and not R23,00)
• Where cents are involved, always use a decimal comma and not a decimal point or hyphen

(e.g. use R15,30 and not R15.30 or R15-30), and use no more than two digits after the decimal comma

• If no cents are involved, do not use a decimal comma followed by two zeros (e.g. use R124 and not R124,00; use R6 and not R6,00)
• To make reading of large currency values easier, always use a “hard” character space (not a comma) as a separator every three digits before the decimal comma (e.g. use $12000,00 and not $12,000.00; use $122001,23 and not $122001,23)

• Do not split a currency value onto two lines (use of a “hard” character space as a separator every three digits before the decimal comma will avoid this)

• Use the words million or billion to shorten very large currency values (e.g. use £23,6-million and not £23600000,00; use £45-billion and not £45000000000)
• Always use a hyphen between the number and the words million or billion (e.g. use £23,6-million and not £23,6 million; use £45-billion and not £45billion)

Common currencies and their symbols are as follows:

Currency symbolCurrencyCountry

RRandsSouth Africa

$DollarsUSA

£PoundsUK

¥YenJapan

€EurosEuropean Union

Use of SI (metric) units

• Standard International (SI) metric units are used almost universally in scientific, technical and engineering circles throughout the world. These days, even in the USA and UK, SI metric units are very widely used.
• South Africa adopted SI metric units many years ago and SI metric units are well established here
• The older Imperial units (pounds, miles, yards, feet, inches, etc.) must be avoided wherever possible
• The usage of SI metric units is well documented and standardised, and there is an SABS standard for detailed advise on the usage of SI units
• However, the details given below cover the vast majority of the usage of SI metric units in conference papers
• On occasion you may have to refer to the relevant SABS standard for SI units

Usage of units

• Except as indicated below, always use a “hard” character space between a number and its units (e.g. use 66 kV and not 66kV; use 80 Mvar and not 80Mvar)
• Do not leave any character space between a number and its units for the following: º, ºC, ºF, ºK

and % (e.g. use 33,4ºC and not 33,4 ºC; use 90º and not 90 º; use 80% and not 80 %)

• Do not split a number and its units onto two lines (use of a “hard” character space between a number and its units will avoid this)
• Always use the abbreviation of the unit and its associated scaling prefix (where applicable) (e.g. use 100 km and not 100 kilometres; use 25 Ω and not 25 ohms; use 25% and not 25 percent; use 90º and not 90 degrees; use 33,4ºC and not 33,4 degrees C)
• Where necessary to scale the unit value suitably, a unit scaling prefix abbreviation may be used directly before the unit abbreviation (without any space), as indicated in the list of unit scaling prefixes and units below. This saves lot of zeros before of after the decimal comma in the case of very large or very small numbers, and also avoids the exponential notation in most cases.

(e.g. 1000 m = 1 km; 10 Mbps = 10 000 000 bps; 2 µs = 0,000 002 s)

• Please note that the word “meter” is a measuring instrument (e.g. an electricity meter, while the word “metre” is a unit of length or distance (e.g. one metre or 1 m)

Unit scaling prefixes

AbbreviationShort forScaling factorExponent

ppico1/1 000 000 000 00010-12

nnano1/1 000 000 00010-9

µmicro1/1 000 00010-6

mmilli1/100010-3

ccenti1/10010-2

ddeci1/1010-1

Ddeca10101

Hhecto100102

kkilo1 000103

Mmega1 000 000106

Ggiga1 000 000 000109

Ttera1 000 000 000 0001012

Common units in our journals

AbbreviationShort forMeasurementCommon usage

VvoltsVoltageµV, mV, V, kV

AampsCurrentµA, mA, A, kA

ΩohmsResistanceµΩ, mΩ, Ω, kΩ MΩ

HzhertzFrequencyHz, kHz, MHz, GHz

JjoulesEnergymJ, J, kJ

CcoulombsElectrical chargepC

Whwatt hoursElectrical energyWh, kWh, MWh, GWh

FfaradsCapacitancenF, pF, µF, mF, F

HhenriesInductanceµH, mH, H

mmetresDistanceµm, mm, cm, m, km

m2square metresAreamm2, cm2, m2, km2

ggramsMassµg, mg, g, kg

WwattsActive powermW, W, kW, MW

varreactive volt-ampsReactive powervar, kvar, Mvar

VAvolt-ampsApparent powerVA, kVA, MVA

ssecondsTimeµs, ms, s

minminutesTimem

hhoursTimeh

llitresVolumeml, l, kl, Hl

m3cubic metresVolumem3

ºdegreesAngular rotationº

radradianAngular rotationrad

ºCdegrees CentigradeTemperatureºC

ºFdegrees FahrenheitTemperatureºF

ºKdegrees KelvinTemperatureºK

bpsbits per secondTransmission ratebps, kbps, Mbps, Gbps

BbytesMemory sizeB, kB, MB, GB, TB

ms-1 or m/smetres per secondSpeedms-1, m/s

km/hkilometres per hourSpeedkm/h

rpmrevolutions per minuteAngular speedrpm

rad/s or s-1radians per secondAngular speedrad/s, s-1

Common Greek symbols

Σ(capital) sigma

Φ(capital) phi

Ω(capital) omega

Δ(capital) delta

αalpha

βbeta

γgamma

δdelta

ηeta

θtheta

λlambda

μmu

νnu

πpi

ρrho

σsigma

τtau

φphi

ψpsi

ωomega

Common non-technical abbreviations

i.e.notie ie.

e.g.notegeg.

etc.notetc

Mr.notMr

Mrs.notMrs

Ms.notMissMs

Prof.notProf

Dr.notDr

viz.notviz

NBnotN.B.NB.nbn.b.

Common technical abbreviations and symbols

%percent

∞infinity

≈approximately equal to

≠not equal to

=equal to

less than

greater than

≤less than or equal to

≥greater than or equal to

ACalternating current

DCdirect current

rmsroot mean square

*asterisk or multiply by

·multiply by

xmultiply by

/slash or divide by

÷divide by

+plus

-minus

±plus minus

and

@at

Common usage examples

230 V ACnot230VAC or 230V AC or 230 VAC or 230 V ac or AC230V

5 V DCnot5VDC or 5V DC or 5 VDC or 5Vdc or DC5V

12 – 36 V AC/DCnot 12…36 V ac/dc

4 – 20 mAnot 4…20 mA or 4-20 mA

0 – 10 Vnot0…10 V or 0-10 V

242 V AC rmsnot242 Vrms or 242 V RMS

265 A rmsnot265 Arms or 265 A RMS

28,3%not 28,3 % or 28,3 percent

100°Cnot100 °C or 100° C or 100 degrees C or 100° Centigrade

273°Knot100 °K or 100° K or 100 K or 100 degrees K or 100° Kelvin

Mathematics and equations

• The use of mathematics and equations in papers is quite common and requires particular attention to ensure these are both mathematically and aesthetically correct.
• Great attention needs to be paid to mathematical symbols, subscripts, superscripts, italics, spacing, relative sizing of symbols and equation numbering to ensure the mathematics and equations look consistent, in proportion and professional
• Unless one has done mathematics courses at technikon or university level, you will generally not be able to judge the mathematical or aesthetic correctness of the equations
• To get the aesthetic part right, use should therefore be made of the basic equation editor that comes with MS Word (Insert/Object/MS Equation function). This equation editor is easy to use and can cope with almost any equation in conference papers. Alternatively, a full-featured plug-in equation editor for MS Word (MathType by Design Science Inc., USA) is available at
• It is necessary for authors and DTP operators working on scientific and technical papers to be proficient on the basic MS Word equation editor. An example of a perfectly proportioned, complex mathematical formula, prepared in less that a minute using the basic MS Word equation editor, is shown below:

(1)

Sales and promotional hype

• In conference papers, overt and blatantly self-serving promotional content of a sales and marketing nature is not acceptable.
• Self-serving verbiage that is not essential or over the top must be avoided.
• Similarly, all self-serving and promotional content of a sales and marketing nature must be avoided.
• Promotional overstatement, hyperbole, hype and questionable claims must be removed, avoided or re-worded where necessary (e.g. phrases such as: revolutionary, the best in the world, the fastest in the world, the cheapest on the market, the most technically advanced, etc., must be toned down or avoided.
• Repetition and overstatement of benefits, claims, and sales and marketing hype must be avoided, including repetitious use of company names, brand names, product names and trademarks.
• Try and use a company name, brand name, product name and/or trademark only once in an article where necessary, and thereafter use the words: the company, the system, the product, the unit, etc., instead.
• Avoid capitalisation in company names, brand names, product names or trademarks for promotional effect – use capitalisation only when really part of the brand name, product name or trademark
• Avoid company names, brand names, product names and trademarks in the title of an article for promotional effect
• Avoid use for promotional effect of the copyright, trademark or registered trademark symbols (©,™, ®) symbols after brand names, product names or trademarks

• Avoid any capitalisation of words or names in an article for promotional effect

Avoid using the business form after the company name (e.g. do not use Ltd; (Pty) Ltd; Inc.; cc; Pvt, Plc, Gmbh, etc.)

Avoid the use of general company information or “boiler plates” in papers – these are only acceptable in paid advertorials