Rainfall variability over western and southwestern Tanzania : the monsoon and potential Indian and Atlantic Ocean influences

Includes bibliography

Assessment Of Quality Management Practices At Transnet Engineering Locomotive Maintenance Depot, Bloemfontein

DissertationThe aim of this study was to assess the Quality Management Practices employed at Transnet Engineering Locomotive (TE) Maintenance in Bloemfontein, Free State regarding the quality of services rendered to clients. TE is where locomotives for Transnet Freight Rail, an internal customer, are repaired and serviced. The study aimed at contributing to efficient and effective quality transport service operations at Transnet through improved internal quality services. To achieve this, the study had to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the current Quality Management Practices at TE and propose remedial measures for improvement. A qualitative approach with structured interview questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions was used to collect data. The target population for data collection consisted of 50 employees at TE. A sample of 9 was selected from the population by applying non-probability sampling known as judgemental sampling also known as purposive sampling. The collected data was analysed using a qualitative method called framework analysis. Appropriate steps for data analysis in respect of framework analysis were used to arrive at the research findings. It is important for any organisation to use a Quality Management System (QMS) effectively and ensure compliance with quality standards. Although TE has adopted and implemented ISO 9001:2008 to aid quality management, the study found that TE encountered challenges in the process. These challenges include negative attitude, lack of appropriate skills, poor workmanship and unsustainable practices. Based on these findings, it was recommended that ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems should not just be used as a marketing tool for policy at TE but applied as practical and sustainable quality management system for quality service outcomes. It was also recommended that the identified challenges that inhibited the effective use of ISO 9001:2008 which raised concerns, be investigated further

The local response of El Niño events and changing disease distribution in Tanzania

Climate is a key determinant of a number of disease pathogen lifecycles and disease transmission processes, particularly within tropical climates such as that experienced in Tanzania. Over recent decades, climate-related diseases such as malaria, chikungunya and bacterial meningitis have shown notable changes in their spatial distribution, with instances of both re-emergence and expansion beyond previously known boundaries being recorded. The unpredicted change in disease distribution already experienced in Tanzania has placed a significant burden on health systems and available resources, and whilst a number of factors are involved, climate remains the least understood aspect within epidemiological changes. Here we examine how climate extremes – particularly El Niño events – influence key environmental and climatic elements which promote epidemiological expansion. This study investigates the baseline climatology in five of Tanzania’s varying climatological regions using the Met Office MIDAS dataset for the period 1985–1995. Its aim is to characterise the average climate and investigate the impacts of El Niño on the climatology of these regions, and to explore associated changes in disease distribution to allow identification, in the present, of changes which are anticipated to occur in the future to be put into context. The years 1997 and 2015 are used to examine the climate extremes imposed by El Niño events through statistical comparison methods. The results demonstrate that average climate conditions vary beyond previously documented observations, with each region of Tanzania responding differently to the onset of El Niño, thus potentially promoting a spatially variable disease response. These results are particularly marked for areas of greater climatic and environmental sensitivity within Tanzania. Once further understood, knowledge of this relationship could be applied to more local analysis and aid in predicting future outbreaks within Tanzania

Evidence for long-term regional changes in precipitation on the East Coast Mountains in Mauritius

Global climate change and its impacts are being increasingly studied and precipitation trends are one of the measures of quantifying climate change especially in the tropics. This study uses daily rainfall data to determine if there are changes in the long-term trends in rainfall variability in the East Coast Mountains of Mauritius during the last few decades, and to investigate the factors influencing the trends in the inter-annual to inter-decadal rainfall variability. Statistical modelling has been used to investigate the trends in total seasonal rainfall, the number of rain days and the mean amount of rain per rainy days and the local, regional and large-scale factors that affect them on inter-annual to inter-decadal time scales. The strongest inter-decadal trend was found in the number of rain days for both rainfall seasons, and the other variables were found to have weak or insignificant trends. Both local factors, such as the surrounding sea surface temperatures and large-scale phenomena such as Indian Monsoon and the El Niño Southern Oscillation were found to influence rainfall patterns