Awareness of diabetic retinopathy among diabetics in the Cape Town Metropole

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Objective: To investigate the awareness of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among diabetics in the Cape Town Metropole by assessing: - Whether diabetics know that diabetes can affect their eyes. - Whether the awareness of DR differs according to subtype of diabetes, place of treatment (private versus public sector), level of education and socio-economic status. - Knowledge of systemic risk factors for developing DR. - Knowledge of treatment of DR. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted as part of the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) survey undertaken in 201

An evaluation of the mechanical behaviour of imperfect aluminium tubes

Energy absorption mechanisms have been investigated intensively for the past decades by various authors and institutions, and numerous articles and other literature sources are available in print, as well as on the Internet. Energy absorbers and crashworthiness structures are two main research components in the energy absorption field under investigation today. In this research geometric changes are introduced on Al 6063-T6 circular tubes in the form of horizontal and spiral grooves to asses their influence on energy absorption characteristics. The horizontal and spiral grooves were cut into the tube to a cut depth of half the wall thickness of the tubes. The pitch was varied for both the horizontal and spiral grooves, while the cut width was kept constant. A specially designed static impact sleeve was used to compress the test specimens axially in an Instron 250 kN universal hydraulic testing system. Load vs. displacement graphs were generated from the captured experimental data for the uncut, horizontal and spiral grooved tubes. Energy vs. displacement graphs were created from the experimental data. The final deformed tubes were visually examined to determine the effect the geometric change had on the circular tube form, as well as the deformation pattern of the crushed tube. A Finite Element Method model is presented for each of the experimentally investigated tube impact models. A two dimensional (2D) model for the uncut as well as horizontally grooved tube is generated and analysed using a quasi static loading approach. Non-linear material properties are assigned to the model, and the Riks algorithm is used to model the non-linear post buckling behaviour of the various tubes. The results from the FEM analysis are used to generate load vs. displacement and energy vs. displacement graphs that are compared with the experimental data. Three dimensional (3D) FEM models of the normal, spiral and horizontal cut tubes were also generated in a CAD environment. A dynamic explicit non-linear analysis was done for each of the models to determine the reaction force and energy output values of each of the models. All analyses extend into the plastic material domain. Reaction force vs. displacement and energy vs. displacement graphs are generated from these analyses. A comparison is made between the numerically and experimentally determined gradients of the energy vs. displacement graphs of each of the tubes investigated. This forms the basis for an energy absorber design with application in the transport industry. Unique geometric imperfections were investigated experimentally and numerically for aluminium tubes. A lower buckling load than that for the normal tubes was achieved with the introduction of these geometric imperfections. New deformation patterns on tubes with imperfections not previously observed were described and analysed extensively. The load vs displacement graphs showed a constant increase in the load for the spiral grooved tubes. From the comparison between the numerically and experimentally investigated geometric imperfections a design guide line was esthablished and used in the conceptual design of an energy absorber for the automotive industry.Prof. L. Pretorius Prof. R.F. Laubsche

Ontwikkelingstrategiee vir die bemagtiging van jeugleiers: 'n indersoek na enkele Suid-Kaapse skole

Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.Leadership development is a life-long process, but support for this process should be started at an early stage. All learners have the gift for leadership, but most do not realise this gift. Adolescence is a time when the leadership potential of individuals must be awakened – it provides an opportunity to help adolescents to became the leaders they already are. The main aim of this study was to devise strategies – through structured survey studies – that could be used by schools and individuals to enhance youth leadership development. The aims that emerged were to determine and describe the current state of affairs regarding youth leadership development in certain schools. Obstacles in the way of effective leadership development were identified and strategies for effective leadership development were formulated. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, undertaken from a structured survey study perspective within an interpretivistic research paradigm, was used. The problem that was researched was the absence of purposeful youth leadership development and how this shortcoming could be addressed in the context of a high school environment, with the support of the necessary development strategies. This study attempted to identify new knowledge that can be used to address the challenges related to youth leadership. The research confirmed the research question that deficient purposeful leadership development strategies exist at school level. This formed the basis for the implementation of a dynamic and flexible leadership development model that includes aspects of both the Quality Leadership and Stage model of youth leadership development. The proposed youth leadership strategies can be applied effectively to address youth leadership development within the current South African context

Tend and befriend : a bio-behavioural construction of women's responses to stress

The Tend and Befriend stress response model suggests that women have, through natural selection, evolved a different stress response reaction to that of men. It thus offers a collective, gender stereotypical reality of women’s responses to stress. In this research the Tend and Befriend model is thus viewed as a dominant public discourse which informs or influences the private narratives or stories of women. It is this interaction between public (dominant) discourses and private narratives which are investigated through using the Tend and Befriend model as a discursive landscape. If gender or gender roles are flexible, there is a concern that individual women might be misrepresented and not given a voice by the dominant discourse which supports gender stereotypical models like the Tend and Befriend model. This qualitative exploration was done by exploring the socially constructed stress responses of five professional women. To investigate this, as researcher I explored the narratives of these women in face-to-face individual interviews. The constructions explored include: How these women understand the way they respond to stress; how they view the Tend and Befriend model; and the influence of the model on them. Through the lenses of social constructionism a broader insight into the stress responses of women may be obtained. From the data analysis, I uncovered very little ‘evidence’ for tending or befriending behaviour as described by Taylor, Klein, Lewis, Gruenewald, Gurung and Updegraff (2000), with the participants. In the exploration the closest response to the model which the participants reported was befriending, however in their construction of befriending they employed it as a workplace strategy. The only form of tending co-constructed in the interview process was a secondary response to stress and a unique outcome to this study: Self-tending. Additionally, as social constructionist research predicts, these participants illustrated that for them stress responses are not concrete, as models would like to suggest, rather they employed an alternate multifaceted stress response approach which was another significant unique outcome to this study.Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Psychologyunrestricte

Waterlisensiëring en waterprysbeleid in die nuwe waterwet

M.A.That South Africa is experiencing a water management crisis, is a fact that cannot be ignored. Although water supply departments and agencies are doing their best under the complex and demanding circumstances and have many examples of successful water projects to show for their efforts, inefficiency, unfairness and unsustainability still characterise much of the use and management of water and resources. This makes satisfying society's growing demand for reliable and legitimate water allocation extremely difficult. Groundwater is usually regarded by consumers as "private" water to be used as they please. Excessive use by such consumers of a borehole may lower the water table and reduce the amount of useable water for other consumers dependant on the same source. Some farms of land use, utilising a larger portion of available rainfall, for example commercial forestry in mountainous areas, reduce runoff into streams lower down, hampering the development potential of downstream areas. Other activities such as agriculture, mining and domestic uses, lower the quality of surface and underground water, making it unsuitable for use. Being such a scarce commodity, water should be used in the most efficient and beneficial way possible for every one in South Africa. In essence this means that all water used must be priced in accordance with its real economic value. The Water Act of 1998 is clearly based on an economic approach to bulk water tariffs. This means allocating water with the aid of water usage rights which are well defined, legitimate and non-discriminatory. The new water Act proposes a water licensing and pricing policy to achieve this goal. In striving for the economic goal, the ideal of sustainability of water management for future generations will become a reality. This study discusses the shortcomings of the previous water legislation as well as the replacement thereof with a more equitable and accessible water act. The study also contains comments on the possible shortcomings with the feasibility of some of the provisions of the new act, such as a conflict of interest that may develop, as well as possible preventive measures that should currently be undertaken to try and eliminate future problems

Assessment of pheromone specificity in Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) populations with focus on pest monitoring and the regional rollout of the sterile insect technique in citrus

False codling moth (FCM), Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is considered the most important indigenous pest of citrus in southern Africa. It is recognized by several markets as a phytosanitary organism and the efficient control of this pest is now more important than ever. The pheromone communication between the male and female moths has been exploited in order to control FCM through the sterile insect technique (SIT). The sterilized males used for all SIT programmes across South Africa come from a colony that originates from wild material collected from the Citrusdal area of the Western Cape Province. The aim of this study was to determine if any differences in attractiveness of females to males exist between different geographical populations of FCM and if so what impact this would have on the male’s ability to locate females from other populations via the volatile sex pheromone released by the female. Laboratory trials with Y-tube olfactometers and flight tunnels tested the attraction of male moths to virgin females, but did not yield any consistent results. Field experiments were conducted with sterile male Citrusdal moths released and recaptured in yellow delta traps in two separate trials. For one trial, the traps were baited with live virgin females from five different geographical populations including Addo, Nelspruit, Marble Hall, Citrusdal and the Old colony, which is a mixture of several populations. For the other trial traps were baited with various synthetic pheromone blends including three regional blends which included South Africa, Ivory Coast and Malawi and three commercial blends including Pherolure, Isomate and Checkmate. For the virgin female trial the Citrusdal males showed a significant preference for females from their own population. There was also a significant difference in the recaptures from the different synthetic pheromones. The South African blend was the most attractive of all the regional and commercial blends. A cross-mating trial was also conducted under laboratory conditions in petri dishes with five different FCM populations including Citrusdal, Addo, Marble Hall, Nelspruit and Old (mixed origin). Females produced more eggs when mated with males from the same population for the Addo, Marble Hall, Nelspruit and Old (mixed origin) populations. The only case in which this was statistically significant was for the Marble Hall population. All the crosses produced viable eggs and the origin of the male or female did not influence egg hatch. The results from this study may lead to improvements in both the control and monitoring of FCM populations. The control methods include mating disruption, attract-and-kill and SIT. Tailoring these methods for a specific growing area with a pheromone blend originating from the area or releasing sterile moths from a colony that originates from the area may optimize the available monitoring and control options

Mass customization and the introduction of a quality management system in a sales and marketing environment

The introduction of a vehicle destined for world-wide export brought mass customization to BMW SA. This, together with a 29% headcount reduction, a model range increase, stringent profitability targets and increased customer satisfaction demands, made the previous, un-integrated quality systems used in the Sales&Marketing Division obsolete. A quality management system was required to provide structure to the processes supporting a product which was becoming more and more complex. The implementation of a quality management system is described. This system for the first time, described some of the procedures used in the mass customization process of the BMW SA Sales&Marketing Division. The quality management system is evaluated based on the principle that customer satisfaction and the failure of internal processes need to be measured. Various are identified and recommendations are made. Some of the recommendations described have already been implemented successfully. An integrated mass customization procedure was established. Recommendations regarding customer satisfaction are in the process of being implemented. The effectiveness of these recommendations will be evaluated by future customer satisfaction survey results.Dissertation (MEng (Technology Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006.Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM)unrestricte

Le management des pôles de compétitivité français: une analyse du Pôle Européen d'innovation Fruits et Légumes

Dans le cadre de sa politique industrielle, le Gouvernement français a labellisé en 2005 71 pôles de compétitivité afin d'améliorer la performance de ses entreprises et de ses territoires. Le Pôle Européen d'Innovation Fruits et Légumes (PEIFL) qui en est issu se donne pour objectif d'encourager les innovations tout au long de cette filière agroalimentaire. En tant que structure associative originale, la question de sa gouvernance se pose par rapport aux objectifs qui lui sont assignés. C'est dans cette perspective que nous en proposons, trois ans après sa création, une analyse visant à mieux comprendre son fonctionnement. Une première partie présente, à travers le concept de structure en réseau vecteur de compétitivité, un cadre théorique et une grille d'observation pour appréhender les pôles de compétitivité. A l'aide de cette grille, une deuxième partie caractérise le PEIFL comme une véritable structure en réseau en faisant apparaître ses dimensions d'Hétérogénéité, de Partenariat, d'Autonomie et de Cohésion. Sur la base de ce résultat, une troisième partie propose un diagnostic opérationnel et stratégique et formule des recommandations pour améliorer son management.Compétitivité, Innovation, Management, Pôles de compétitivité, Pôle Européen d'Innovation Fruits et Légumes (PEIFL), Structure en réseau

Design and construction risks for a shipping port and container terminal : case study

This paper presents the risk identification process, a checklist of 215 different risks, and an associated risk breakdown structure (RBS) for the design and construction phases for a shipping port and associated container terminal. The case study project scope for the research includes a 3,500-m breakwater, 80 ha of reclaimed land, a 1,000-m-long quay wall, port equipment, and buildings. The checklist is categorized according to the project work breakdown structure (WBS) and includes risks associated with (1) breakwater, (2) reclaimed land, (3) entrance canal and basin, (4) quay wall, (5) container yard and buildings, (6) power supply, and (7) project management office. Since the research outcome was developed by subject matter experts during an actual project, it can be used during risk identification, as a completeness check after risk identification on similar projects, or for individual activities (e.g., quay wall construction) per the required project scope. The research also includes a list of risks that specifically relate to marine construction.https://ascelibrary.org/journal/jwped5hj2020Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM