Business rescue: How can its success be evaluated at company level?

The question of what constitutes a successful business rescue is a very topical and unanswered one. Reports on success are contradictory and seem to lack a set of standardised evaluation criteria. The purpose of this article is to investigate how business rescue success is evaluated internationally in order to develop a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate business rescue success at company level in South Africa. A comparative review approach was used to investigate data from four leading international countries with similar business rescue regimes. A number of evaluation criteria were identified and aligned with the business rescue legislation as set out in Chapter 6 of the South African Companies Act. The fi ndings indicated that the international business rescue regimes and Chapter 6 share similar goals. Several criteria for evaluating success were identifi ed, the key indicators being the going concern status on exiting business rescue, and whether the return to creditors was maximised as opposed to liquidation. It was further found that an initial exit as a going concern may be a short-term success indicator. Success can ultimately only be established if further investigation after some time period indicates no re-filing for business rescue.Key words: business rescue, South African Companies Act, success, evaluation, going concern, liquidation, stakeholders, restructurin

A comprehensive approach to the development of thinking skills

The development of independent and innovative thinking entails much more than merely the acquisition of a series of thinking skills. A comprehensive approach based upon inter-disciplinary cooperation between, among others, the disciplines of philosophy, education and pscychology is needed. In such a comprehensive approach to the development of thinking skills the following factors that have a bearing on the acquisition of thinking skills should be addressed:The cultivation of a positive disposition towards the development of thinking.The creation of conditions conducive to the development of thinking.The cultivation of virtues that will dispose a person towards good thinking.An understanding of what good thinking entails.The teaching and assessment of thinking skills.In this article, these various factors and their bearing on the development of thinking skills are explored. A general theoretical framework for the development of thinking skills is proposed that can and should be translated to specific domains of knowledge or to specific human enterprises

Quantum statistics of overlapping modes in open resonators

We study the quantum dynamics of optical fields in weakly confining resonators with overlapping modes. Employing a recently developed quantization scheme involving a discrete set of resonator modes and continua of external modes we derive Langevin equations and a master equation for the resonator modes. Langevin dynamics and the master equation are proved to be equivalent in the Markovian limit. Our open-resonator dynamics may be used as a starting point for a quantum theory of random lasers.Comment: 6 pages, corrected typo

Positive-P and Wigner representations for quantum-optical systems with nonorthogonal modes

We generalize the basic concepts of the positive-P and Wigner representations to unstable quantum-optical systems that are based on nonorthogonal quasimodes. This lays the foundation for a quantum description of such systems, such as, for example an unstable cavity laser. We compare both representations by calculating the tunneling times for an unstable resonator optical parametric oscillator

The Midpoint Rule as a Variational--Symplectic Integrator. I. Hamiltonian Systems

Numerical algorithms based on variational and symplectic integrators exhibit special features that make them promising candidates for application to general relativity and other constrained Hamiltonian systems. This paper lays part of the foundation for such applications. The midpoint rule for Hamilton's equations is examined from the perspectives of variational and symplectic integrators. It is shown that the midpoint rule preserves the symplectic form, conserves Noether charges, and exhibits excellent long--term energy behavior. The energy behavior is explained by the result, shown here, that the midpoint rule exactly conserves a phase space function that is close to the Hamiltonian. The presentation includes several examples.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, REVTe

Characterisation of Phomopsis spp. associated with die-back of rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) in South Africa

Die-back of rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) causes substantial losses in commercial Aspalathus plantations in South Africa. In the past, the disease has been attributed to Phomopsis phaseoli (teleomorph: Diaporthe phaseolorum). Isolates obtained from diseased plants, however, were highly variable with regard to morphology and pathogenicity. The aim of the present study was thus to identify the Phomopsis species associated with die-back of rooibos. Isolates were subjected to DNA sequence comparisons of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) and partial sequences of the translation elongation factor-1 alpha gene. Furthermore, isolates were also compared in glasshouse inoculation trials on 8-mo-old potted plants to evaluate their pathogenicity. Five species were identified, of which D. aspalathi (formerly identified as D. phaseolorum or D. phaseolorum var. meridionalis) proved to be the most virulent, followed by D. ambigua, Phomopsis theicola, one species of Libertella and Phomopsis, respectively, and a newly described species, P. cuppatea. A description is also provided for D. ambigua based on a newly designated epitype specimen

Fluctuations of indicator and index microbes as indication of pollution over three years in the Plankenburg and Eerste Rivers, Western Cape, South Africa

The Plankenburg and Eerste Rivers (Western Cape) have been reported to be contaminated with faecal coliforms. Water is drawn from both rivers for irrigation of fresh produce. The potential risk in the use of these rivers as irrigation sources was assessed by determining the fluctuations of ‘indicator’ and ‘index’ microbes over 3 years. Selected physico-chemical (water temperature, pH, COD, conductivity and alkalinity) and microbiological parameters, including coliforms, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococci, as ‘indicators’ of faecal pollution, and Salmonella, Listeria and Staphylococcus, as ‘index’ of the presence of potential pathogens, were monitored.No correlation was found between water temperature and COD (r2 = 0.0003), whereas for temperature and pH a significant trend (p = 0.0004), but low correlation (r2 = 0.108), was observed. With the exception of the faecal coliforms (E. coli), no significant trends and no correlations between temperature and the dependent variables were found. For the faecal coliforms there was a significant trend (p = 0.0289) with temperature but not a good correlation (r2 = 0.0434), but the impact of temperature over time was significant (p = 0.0047). This is important, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) and South African Department of Water Affairs (DWA) guidelines for faecal coliforms are applied, as it indicates that temperaturedoes impact the faecal coliform numbers. The presence of indicator organisms did not only indicate unsanitary conditions, but also the presence of potential pathogens such as Staphylococcus, Klebsiella, Listeria and Salmonella. Based on these results the microbial quality of these rivers was found to be unacceptable and does not meet the WHO and DWA guidelines for safe irrigation. There was also a high risk of exposure to human pathogens when water from these rivers is used to irrigate produce that is consumed without further processing.Keywords: Irrigation water, faecal pollution, indicator and index organisms, Plankenburg and Eerste River

Friction of the surface plasmon by high-energy particle-hole pairs: Are memory effects important?

We show that the dynamics of the surface plasmon in metallic nanoparticles damped by its interaction with particle-hole excitations can be modelled by a single degree of freedom coupled to an environment. In this approach, the fast decrease of the dipole matrix elements that couple the plasmon to particle-hole pairs with the energy of the excitation allows a separation of the Hilbert space into low- and high-energy subspaces at a characteristic energy that we estimate. A picture of the spectrum consisting of a collective excitation built from low-energy excitations which interacts with high-energy particle-hole states can be formalised. The high-energy excitations yield an approximate description of a dissipative environment (or "bath") within a finite confined system. Estimates for the relevant timescales establish the Markovian character of the bath dynamics with respect to the surface plasmon evolution for nanoparticles with a radius larger than about 1 nm.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; see also cond-mat/070372