Project management: a new service delivery paradigm

In line with international trends in governance, the South African Government’s initial focus on the development of policy frameworks, structures and systems in order to give effect to the values and principles of the Constitution, shifted to the most critical issue, namely service delivery. The Government became increasingly aware that a significant expansion in the scope and quality of service provision was not possible with traditional delivery settings and approaches. There is growing evidence that there is a need for a significant departure from conventional approaches and that a leap into a new service delivery paradigm is necessary. Increasingly this new paradigm highlights the need to further develop the government’s project management skills and applications with a view to achieving improved delivery capability. In this article the focus will be placed on the changing service delivery paradigm – from an “old” traditional model through the transition to a “new” paradigm. This paradigm is shaped by international and national trends and events in government. The contribution and advantages of project management applications for effective governance are highlighted and the article concludes with an explanation of project management organisational arrangements necessary to support the new paradigm

Project governance: selected South African government experiments

Some form of accountability and power structure binds all organisations. Such structures are typically referred to as the “governance” structure of the organisation. In organisations that have relatively mature project applications and methodologies in place, governance mechanisms are established on more permanent bases. With its focus on performance, results and outcomes, project governance establishes decision-making structures, as well as accountability and responsibility mechanisms in public institutions to oversee projects. As government institutions increasingly place emphasis on project applications for policy implementation and service delivery initiatives, mechanisms or structures should be established to facilitate clear interfaces between the permanent organisation and the temporary project organisation. Such mechanisms or structures should enhance the governance of projects, that is, the strategic alignment of projects, the decentralisation of decision- making powers, rapid resource allocation, and the participation of external stakeholders. The purpose of this article is to explore the concept “project governance”, and to highlight examples of project governance as applied in selected government departments in provincial and national spheres. This would enable the establishment of best practice examples and assist to develop benchmarks for effective project applications for service delivery improvement

Lassie O\u27Mine : Duet

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State of the art of Additive Manufacturing for polymeric medical implants

Published Conference ProceedingsAdditive Manufacturing (AM) commonly known as 3D printing has found many applications in the automotive, aerospace and medical industries. The flexibility to fabricate 3D objects of any complexity displayed by AM technologies such as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Stereolithography (SLA), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), PolyJet printing and electrospinning, has been used to improve the lives of many patients through the provision of polymeric implants, scaffolds and devices for drug delivery. The common limitation of such applications is the biocompatibility of the AM material with the human body and systems. An ideal non degradable implant would not invoke an inflammatory or toxic response whereas for a degradable implant, the degradants must also be metabolized in the body after fulfilling its purpose, thus leaving no trace. Furthermore, inertness, weight similar to human bone or even lighter, capability to generate no artifacts on Computer Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, sufficient strength to resist functional stresses for load bearing implants, low and no thermal conductivity, easy sterilization and low cost of manufacturing are the desired characteristics for the acceptance of the use of an implant in a human body. Metallic and ceramic implants have been extensively used for medical implants. However the possible need for a second surgery to remove metallic implants, the stress shielding effect, the radio-opacity of the metal and long-term presence of metallic ions in vivo are major disadvantages of metallic implants which can be overcome by the use of their counterparts manufactured from polymeric materials. Building on the already established AM powder based technologies; a transition from micro to nanosized powder particles to improve the mechanical properties of SLS polymeric implants is a new trend of development. The optimum ratio of Hydroxyapatite (HA) to polymer composites and the establishment of measuring standards to meet the requirement of a medical implant are the actual challenges of AM for polymeric medical implants

Disease patterns in Transkei and Ciskei

In 1972 disease patterns in selected representative areas of Transkei and Ciskei were surveyed. Some of the findings are presented

‘Doing’ health policy analysis: methodological and conceptual reflections and challenges

The case for undertaking policy analysis has been made by a number of scholars and practitioners. However, there has been much less attention given to how to do policy analysis, what research designs, theories or methods best inform policy analysis. This paper begins by looking at the health policy environment, and some of the challenges to researching this highly complex phenomenon. It focuses on research in middle and low income countries, drawing on some of the frameworks and theories, methodologies and designs that can be used in health policy analysis, giving examples from recent studies. The implications of case studies and of temporality in research design are explored. Attention is drawn to the roles of the policy researcher and the importance of reflexivity and researcher positionality in the research process. The final section explores ways of advancing the field of health policy analysis with recommendations on theory, methodology and researcher reflexivity

The role of the school in inculcating citizenship values in South Africa: theoretical and international comparative perspectives

In view of the serious moral decay in South African society, this article reports on our research regarding the role of the school in the inculcation of citizenship values (as part of the brief of South African education). We regard a set of citizenship values consonant with a democratic dispensation to be a core component of a moral order essential for South Africa. Using a combination of interpretive-constructivist and comparative approaches, we examine and evaluate the experiences of other post-conflict societies in using education to inculcate citizenship values. We conclude that schools can be successful with respect to the inculcation of citizenship values, provided that the curriculum itself does not discriminate against any group or category of people. Desegregation can only be beneficial in the absence of negative depiction (including criminalisation) or the unequal treatment of any particular societal grouping. Our research suggests that active citizenship education is needed in schools. For this reason, we contend that teacher education has to form an integral part of a moral revival project. Lastly, we highlight the importance of finding democratically agreed-upon ways to continually engage with parents, legal caregivers and other stakeholders and role-players before and during the execution of any such project

Dose-dependent effects of exogenous gonadotrophins on the endometrium of the rat

We compared the serwn levels of oestrogen and progesterone and the endometrial morphology of normal pregnant rats at 5,5 days' gestation with those of pregnant rats given either low (10 IU) or high (20 IU) doses of two gonadotrophins: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and hwnan chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). Evidence of ovarian hyperstimulation was observed in the high- but not the low-dose group; both treatment regimens caused significant changes in the endometrial surface, epithelial height, the microvillous border, the glycocalyx, the subepithelial stromal cells and the mitotic activity of the surface epithelial and stromal connective tissue cells. The effects of the highdose treatment were Inore severe than those of the low-dose treatment. The serum oestradiol and progesterone levels of the treated groups were not significantly different from those of the control group. The changes in the endometrium after both treatment regimens may interfere with normal trophoblastic-endometrial interactions and could influence the maintenance of pregnancy. This investigation demonstrated that even low doses of gonadotrophins, which do not cause obvious ovarian stimulation, affect uterine morphology. The findings haveimportant implications for in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer programmes