Strategic Marketing Insights For Small Business Meat Retailers

Branded meat of consistently high quality has earned a reputation worldwide as a means to increase beef consumption. The feedlot industry is the main beef producer in South Africa and falls in the category of ‘Small Businesses.’ For these small business meat retailers to be successful in an industry subjected to fierce competition, it is necessary to be innovative in a market where high quality beef serves as just another commodity. This study explored the marketing efforts of meat producers in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, by drawing tangent planes between effective marketing and the knowledgeable consumer. The research approach that was used included both quantitative and qualitative research. The population consisted of consumers buying meat products at three different retailers in Middelburg, Mpumalanga. A sample of 612 was conveniently selected for the study. A total of 588 questionnaires were completed. The results of the study provide insights into the measures that influence brand equity for branded meat products. The importance to establish a link between brand variables and consumers’ perception regarding the importance of these variables is thus critical in the success of branded meat products. These marketing insights make a significant contribution to the competitive marketing strategies of small business meat retailers

The use of ultraviolet radiation as a non-thermal treatment for the inactivation of alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores in water, wash water from a fruit processing plant and grape juice concentrate

Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris is a non-pathogenic, spore-forming bacterium that can survive the commercial pasteurisation processes commonly used during fruit juice production. Surviving bacterial endospores germinate, grow and cause spoilage of high acid food products. Fruit juices can be treated using ultraviolet light (UV-C) with a wavelength of 254 nm, which has a germicidal effect against micro-organisms. In this study, A. acidoterrestris was inoculated into water, used wash water from a fruit processing plant and grape juice concentrate. Ultraviolet dosage levels (J L−1) of 0, 61, 122, 183, 244, 305 and 367 J L−1 were applied using a novel UV-C turbulent flow system. The UV treatment method was shown to reliably achieve in excess of a 4 log10 reduction (99.99%) per 0.5 kJ L-1 of UV-C dosage in all the liquids inoculated with A. acidoterrestris. The applied novel UV technology could serve as an alternative to thermal treatments of fruit juices for the inactivation of Alicyclobacillus spores as well as in the treatment of contaminated wash water used in fruit processing.Department of HE and Training approved lis

A Toeplitz-like operator with rational matrix symbol having poles on the unit circle: Invertibility and Riccati equations

This paper is a continuation of the work on unbounded Toeplitz-like operators T_\Om with rational matrix symbol \Om initiated in Groenewald et. al (Complex Anal. Oper. Theory 15, 1(2021)), where a Wiener-Hopf type factorization of \Om is obtained and used to determine when T_\Om is Fredholm and compute the Fredholm index in case T_\Om is Fredholm. Due to the high level of non-uniqueness and complicated form of the Wiener-Hopf type factorization, it does not appear useful in determining when T_\Om is invertible. In the present paper we use state space methods to characterize invertibility of T_\Om in terms of the existence of a stabilizing solution of an associated nonsymmetric discrete algebraic Riccati equation, which in turn leads to a pseudo-canonical factorization of \Om and concrete formulas of T_\Om^{-1}.Comment: 19 page

A Toeplitz-like operator with rational matrix symbol having poles on the unit circle: Fredholm characteristics

In a recent paper (Groenewald et al.\ {\em Complex Anal.\ Oper.\ Theory} \textbf{15:1} (2021)) we considered an unbounded Toeplitz-like operator $T_\Omega$ generated by a rational matrix function $\Omega$ that has poles on the unit circle $\mathbb{T}$ of the complex plane. A Wiener-Hopf type factorization was proved and this factorization was used to determine some Fredholm properties of the operator $T_\Omega$, including the Fredholm index. Due to the lower triangular structure (rather than diagonal) of the middle term in the Wiener-Hopf type factorization and the lack of uniqueness, it is not straightforward to determine the dimension of the kernel of $T_\Omega$ from this factorization, and hence of the co-kernel, even when $T_\Omega$ is Fredholm. In the current paper we provide a formula for the dimension of the kernel of $T_\Omega$ under an additional assumption on the Wiener-Hopf type factorization. In the case that $\Omega$ is a $2 \times 2$ matrix function, a characterization of the kernel of the middle factor of the Wiener-Hopf type factorization is given and in many cases a formula for the dimension of the kernel is obtained. The characterization of the kernel of the middle factor for the $2 \times 2$ case is partially extended to the case of matrix functions of arbitrary size.Comment: 27 page

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

Micromanipulation at an infertility centre

Aim. Human in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and gamete intrafallopian transfer have been used in the management of various forms of infertility. In cases of severe male-factor infertility, fertilisation can be a factor. In this study micromanipulation was used to increase fertilisation in such cases.Methods. Two micromanipulation techniques, subzonal sperm injection (SUZI) and partial zona dissection (PZD), were used to assist fertilisation in patients with abnorTl)al semen parameters. Ten couples with severe oligo-, teratoand asthenozoospermia participated in the SUZI programme. Seventy-three oocytes were obtained from these 10 patients. PZD was used on day 1 oocytes in cases of male infertility as well as a rescue attempt on day 2 oocytes when fertilisation had failed after routine insemination.Results. The SUZI technique had a fertilisation rate of 37,7%. In this group, a biochemical pregnancy was achieved. Differences between the fertilisation rate of conventionallVF (33,3%) and PZD (56,3%) in cases of male infertility, were not statistically significant although a clinical difference could be detected. PZD was statistically effective in facilitating fertilisation (37,5% v. 8,3%) in couples where this procedure was introduced to reinseminate 24-hour-old unfertilised oocytes. Four patients received PZD reinseminated embryos. An average of 1,45 PZD embryos were replaced and 1 implantation pregnancy was confirmed.Conclusion. The micromanipulation results are encouraging arid seemed to increase the efficiency of IVF in humans. Furthermore, our data support the conclusion that micromanipulation procedures can bring about pregnancies

A simulation study to compare reference and other priors in the case of a standard univariate Student t-distribution

In this paper, reference and probability-matching priors are derived for the univariate Student t-distribution. These priors generally lead to procedures with properties frequentists can relate to while still retaining Bayes validity. The priors are tested by performing simulation studies. The focus is on the relative mean squared error from the posterior median and on the frequentist coverage of the 95% credibility intervals for a sample of size n = 30. Average interval lengths of the credibility intervals as well as the modes of the interval lengths based on 2 000 simulations are also considered. The performance of the priors is also tested on real data, namely daily logarithmic returns of IBM stocks

Polar decompositions of quaternion matrices in indefinite inner product spaces

Polar decompositions of quaternion matrices with respect to a given indefinite inner product are studied. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an $H$-polar decomposition are found. In the process an equivalent to Witt's theorem on extending $H$-isometries to $H$-unitary matrices is given for quaternion matrices

Issues in public health: Unnatural deaths, alcohol bans and curfews: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment during COVID-19

Background. Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) restrictions, particularly relating to the sale of alcohol and hours of curfew, have had a marked effect on the temporal pattern of unnatural deaths in South Africa. Methods. Death data were collected over 68 weeks from January 2020 to April 2021, together with information on the nature of restrictions (if any) on the sale of alcohol, and hours of curfew. Data were analysed using a simple ordinary least square (OLS) regression model to estimate the relative contribution of restrictions on the sale of alcohol and hours of curfew to the pattern of excess unnatural deaths. Results. The complete restriction on the sale of alcohol resulted in a statistically significant reduction in unnatural deaths regardless of the length of curfew. To the contrary, periods where no or limited restrictions on alcohol were in force had no significant effect, or resulted in significantly increased unnatural deaths. Conclusion. The present study highlights an association between alcohol availability and the number of unnatural deaths and demonstrates the extent to which those deaths might be averted by disrupting the alcohol supply. While this is not a long-term solution to addressing alcohol-related harm, it further raises the importance of implementing evidence-based alcohol control measures