Challenges of the technical skills gap in South Africa’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning sector

MBA thesisThe topic of skilled labour is discussed in many fora across all types of industries locally and internationally. The main theme of this research was to seek confirmation that a shortage of skilled labour in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning HVAC industry in South Africa has consequences and challenges that need to be addressed The study of skilled and unskilled labour is a large field with many different facets, some obvious and others not. The problem of where to start and stop is in itself a challenge. Skills requirements vary considerably from one industry to another, with only some skills being transferable. This study investigates a very specific area, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning HVAC sector in South Africa. The HVAC industry is specialised in that it requires a technically qualified individual to work on the equipment commissioned to deliver the desired air quality and temperature to make modern buildings habitable. A qualitative approach was used to interpret the data collected during the research phase. A questionnaire was used to survey the sample selected. The findings were then extrapolated and interpreted into a set of results which supported or did not support the propositions made in this report. The key finding was that the heating, ventilation and air conditioning HVAC industry in South Africa is facing a skilled labour supply problem, due to the lack of training. To address this problem, both industry and government training interventions were necessary. The challenge of skilled labour seems to be an international problem. Developing countries must protect their skills base because vibrant first world economies will seek skilled labour abroad

SENSIPLUS: AN INNOVATIVE PLATFORM FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY APPLICATIONS IN SMART CITIES

Smart City is a modern concept, born in the last decade and spreading very quickly all over the world, aiming at improving the citizens’ life quality by largely adopting Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It is addressed to optimize the government policy and people welfare by means of the analysis of data acquired with pervasive sensors’ networks distributed in indoor and outdoor environments. The Internet of Things (IoT), a new paradigm according to which the everyday life objects are connected to the internet, has a key role in the smart cities development. Such technologies and paradigms are adopted in many applications, as for the air quality monitoring and warranty. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) caused about 3.2 million deaths in 2015 and will be the third one in 2030. For this reason, lots of efforts are devoted to air monitoring and to the development of technologies to reduce the polluting. In this field, the authors are working at the development of an innovative platform, called SENSIPLUSR , characterized by sensing, processing and communication capabilities

Metrological characterization of a novel microsensor platform for activated carbon filters monitoring

Nowadays, an increasing concern about people and environmental health and safety is spreading all over the world, and technologies such as efficient monitoring systems are furthered. In the field of air quality, filtering systems, especially based on activated carbons (ACs), are commonly used. In most cases, their state of health is not monitored, and their time of life is based on statistical and a priori evaluations. This paper proposes a novel microsensor platform for the real-time monitoring of AC filters based on the impedance measurements during gas exposition. A metrological characterization of the novel proposed instrument is provided in this paper, by comparing its output to a reference RLC meter. A calibration and adjustment procedure is developed in order to analyze the device measurement capabilities and obtain correction coefficients. Experiments with different gas typologies are presented, and the analysis of filters impedance dynamics is provided

Concentrazioni di ozono misurate dalla centralina di rilevamento degli inquinanti fotochimici dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanita presso l'Orto Botanico di Roma negli anni 1999-2000

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7 Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal