A geometallurgical examination of gold, uranium and thorium in the Black Reef Quartzite Formation, Gold One International LTD, Springs

M.Sc. (Geology)Within the Black Reef Formation, which forms the basal unit of the Transvaal Supergroup, an auriferous and uraniferous reef occurs. This is known as the Buckshot Pyrite Leader reef. This reef is a conglomerate-hosted gold and uranium deposit, which is similar to the Witwatersrand reefs as they both contain significant amounts of pyrite and have similar depositional environments. This study seeks to identify the geometallurgical characteristics of the gold uranium and thorium that are hosted in the Black Reef at the Modder East operation in Springs. In terms of methodology, a detailed petrographic study was completed on the samples taken from underground and the surface run of mine samples. Mineralogy was conducted on these samples using SEM-based automated technology, namely the FEI Mineral liberation analyser (MLA). Using this, I could further characterise the gold and uranium bearing phases found across the Black Reef. Additionally, mill testing, grading analysis, major and trace element chemistry, density separation, gold and uranium dissolution as well as flotation testing was conducted on the ore in order to determine its geometallurgical characteristics. Through the combination of these methods, this study aims to evaluate the Au, U and Th within the Black Reef with regards to: the metallurgy; the extraction process in relation to the mineralogy of the samples; and the possible implications that these factors could have on the overall recovery of the economic minerals

Practitioner Sensemaking of Event Marketing Managerial Practice: a Socio-Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Study

Marketing management theory in event and festival management literature contextualises general marketing management principles and invariably refers to marketing analysis and decision-making. Few studies consider practitioner views of marketing managerial practice in the work place and impact in day-to-day operations. This research covers fieldwork in a traditional hermeneutic manner and evidence taken from interviews with twelve practitioners from the industry. Four prominent themes of marketing managerial practice emerged from the research. Firstly, the meaning of marketing managerial practice cannot be satisfactorily explained by conventional event marketing theory. Secondly, these event professionals’ made sense of the meaning of marketing managerial practice in terms of three elements; management identities, extended event marketing networks and innovative event marketing output including storytelling and content. This thesis proposes a new conceptual model that describes these findings, an Event Marketing Functionality Model. Finally, this conceptual model makes sense of practitioner meaning from a sociological standpoint as a social practice - a new perspective instead of a traditional classical marketing stance. This research contributes to both professional practice and academic knowledge. In professional practice, this work asks practitioners to adopt recommendations set out in the conclusion section as this will lead to a more coherent and productive professional approach if recognised and acted on by those involved. The recommendations include a) practitioner use of the new conceptual model in developing best practice in event marketing; b) training and mentoring in event marketing practice is necessary; c) peer-to-peer learning would help develop new ways or working and d) adoption of innovative practices including storytelling and content to maximise opportunities in the field. This work also contributes to academic knowledge and the social-phenomenology of marketing work. Furthermore, this research also contributes new knowledge and to professional practice as event management /marketing performance as opposed to classic concern with ‘technique’ - so this thesis shifts the conversation from dominant concern with ‘technique’ to something more profound. This research provides new insights into event marketing managerial practice and the influence and importance of people in the process

Doing Infrastructural Work: The Role of Boundary Objects in Health Information Infrastructure Projects

By their nature information infrastructures require the co-operation of a broad range of diverse stakeholders and interests in order emerge and evolve over-time. Boundary objects provide a means through which those from different social worlds can collaborate without having to reach a consensus in order to do so. In this article we explore the role of such objects, whose infrastructural properties have often been overlooked. We respond to calls to examine the different types of objects used to elicit feedback from potential users and other stakeholders in complex information system projects. Our focus is specifically on health information systems and in particular those involving the implementation of electronic record systems at a national or regional scale. Such projects are notoriously complex and are frequently marked by a diversity of intentions and lack of agreement. When attempted at a national scale at least, they typically fail to meet intended objectives and projects are often abandoned altogether. We suggest that understanding how different types of boundary object—repositories or ideal types—inhibit infrastructural development can assist in understanding these difficulties and point to ways of better supporting the generativity required for the infrastructuralisaton of complex information system

Bacterial toxins: Offensive, defensive, or something else altogether?

The secretion of proteins that damage host tissue is well established as integral to the infectious processes of many bacterial pathogens. However, recent advances in our understanding of the activity of toxins suggest that the attributes we have assigned to them from early in vitro experimentation have misled us into thinking of them as merely destructive tools. Here, we will discuss the multifarious ways in which toxins contribute to the lifestyle of bacteria and, by considering their activity from an evolutionary perspective, demonstrate how this extends far beyond their ability to destroy host tissue

Where is the evidence for emergency planning: a scoping review

Background Recent terrorist attacks and natural disasters have led to an increased awareness of the importance of emergency planning. However, the extent to which emergency planners can access or use evidence remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identify, analyse and assess the location, source and quality of emergency planning publications in the academic and UK grey literature. Methods We conducted a scoping review, using as data sources for academic literature Embase, Medline, Medline in Process, Psychinfo, Biosis, Science Citation Index, Cinahl, Cochrane library and Clinicaltrials.gov. For grey literature identification we used databases at the Health Protection Agency, NHS Evidence, British Association of Immediate Care Schemes, Emergency Planning College and the Health and Safety Executive, and the websites of UK Department of Health Emergency Planning Division and UK Resilience. Aggregative synthesis was used to analyse papers and documents against a framework based on a modified FEMA Emergency Planning cycle. Results Of 2736 titles identified from the academic literature, 1603 were relevant. 45% were from North America, 27% were commentaries or editorials and 22% were event reports. Of 192 documents from the grey literature, 97 were relevant. 76% of these were event reports. The majority of documents addressed emergency planning and response. Very few documents related to hazard analysis, mitigation or capability assessment. Conclusions Although a large body of literature exists, its validity and generalisability is unclear There is little evidence that this potential evidence base has been exploited through synthesis to inform policy and practice. The type and structure of evidence that would be of most value of emergency planners and policymakers has yet to be identified

Fake anti-malarials: start with the facts.

This meeting report presents the key findings and discussion points of a 1-day meeting entitled 'Fake anti-malarials: start with the facts' held on 28th May 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland, to disseminate the findings of the artemisinin combination therapy consortium's drug quality programme. The teams purchased over 10,000 samples, using representative sampling approaches, from six malaria endemic countries: Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Island), Cambodia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. Laboratory analyses of these samples showed that falsified anti-malarials (<8 %) were found in just two of the countries, whilst substandard artemisinin-based combinations were present in all six countries and, artemisinin-based monotherapy tablets are still available in some places despite the fact that the WHO has urged regulatory authorities in malaria-endemic countries to take measures to halt the production and marketing of these oral monotherapies since 2007. This report summarizes the presentations that reviewed the public health impact of falsified and substandard drugs, sampling strategies, techniques for drug quality analysis, approaches to strengthen health systems capacity for the surveillance of drug quality, and the ensuing discussion points from the dissemination meeting

Deep-water incised valley deposits at the ediacaran-cambrian boundary in southern Namibia contain abundant treptichnus pedum

Valley-filling deposits of the Nama Group, southern Namibia, record two episodes of erosional downcutting and backfill, developed close together in time near the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary. Geochronological constraints indicate that the older valley fill began 539.4 ± 1 Ma or later; the younger of these deposits contains unusually well-preserved populations of the basal Cambrian trace fossil Treptichnus pedum. Facies analysis shows that T. pedum is closely linked to a nearshore sandstone deposit, indicating a close environmental or taphonomic connection to very shallow, mud-draped sandy seafloor swept by tidal currents. Facies restriction may limit the biostratigraphic potential of T. pedum in Namibia and elsewhere, but it also illuminates functional and ecological interpretation. The T. pedum tracemaker was a motile bilaterian animal that lived below the sediment-water interface—propelling itself forward in upward-curving projections that breached the sediment surface. The T. pedum animal, therefore, lived infaunally, perhaps to avoid predation, surfacing regularly to feed and take in oxygen. Alternatively, the T. pedum animal may have been a deposit feeder that surfaced largely for purposes of gas exchange, an interpretation that has some support in the observed association of T. pedum with mud drapes. Treptichnus pedum provides our oldest record of animals that combined anatomical and behavioral complexity. Insights from comparative biology suggest that basal Cambrian T. pedum animals already possessed the anatomical, neurological, and genetic complexity needed to enable the body plan and behavioral diversification recorded by younger Cambrian fossils