The use of simulated games in an undergraduate course manufacturing processes

Simulation games bring the real engineering situation into class room. They are ideally suited to situations where the size and cost of some systems cannot be replicated in educational institutions, e.g. large-scale production facilities and manufacturing processes. Students undertaking a course in Manufacturing Processes participated in a role-playing game within a simulated manufacturing environment for the production of LEGO widgets. The game has three discrete phases; each with a briefing session, a production “run” and a debriefing session. It encourages observation and discussion of possible improvements required to increase productivity, and also visualizes some of the manufacturing concepts. This paper describes the exceptional learning outcomes achieved, the explicit understanding of manufacturing strategies and an insight into the approaches taken by world class manufacturers to maximise production. Surveys of students, taken before and after the game, revealed that they gained a greater appreciation for the course content by being immersed in this simulated scenario. The game also illustrated the importance of good team interaction, the application of different problem-solving techniques, and proved the odd adage “work smarter not faster”

The development of a simulation engineering game to teach problem solving skills and team dynamics

Simulation technologies have become the corner stone of many training programs, from simple game–playing scenarios to totally immersive virtual reality simulators. However, many of these simple teaching aides merely tend to develop the manual dexterity of the learner. The game described in this paper develops the learner’s problem-solving skills and teamwork. The game under development is based on a simulated production line, constructing structures with Lego blocks. The game has three discrete phases; each with a briefing session, a production “run” and a debriefing session. It encourages observation and discussion of possible improvements required to increase productivity. This is achieved by the learning of good team interaction and the application of different problem-solving techniques. Initial feedback from students reveals that the simulated game provides a better method of observing the importance of team dynamics and the honing of problem solving skills

The prevalence of renal impairment in the elderly hospitalized population

Renal impairment has already been cited as being under-reported. A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample population consisted of 94 inpatients aged over 60 years at Clayponds Hospital in the UK who had been admitted for rehabilitation from acute hospitals. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated using the Cockcroft–Gault formula modified for SI units. Renal impairment was found in 95.7% (95% CI: 91.8–99.6) of the sample (GFR < 90 ml/min). The study confirms that undetected renal impairment is prevalent. What is significant is that all of the subjects in this study were admitted from acute hospitals to Clayponds Hospital for rehabilitation. It is recommended that more attention be paid to the identification of patients with renal failure in hospitals owing to its significant morbidity and mortality

An audit of chest pain and the factors affecting it in private emergency department

A research report presented to the Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfilment of the degree Master of Science in Medicine (Emergency Medicine)Background Chest pain is an important and complex presenting complaint to the ED. McGraw- Hill4, defines chest pain as a general term for any dull, aching pain in the thorax, usually referring to that of acute onset. This wide definition and the broad range of potential diagnoses make these patients a diagnostic challenge. The primary aim of the ED doctor is in diagnosing and excluding life-threatening causes, as failure to do so may result in serious consequences for the patient and doctor. Understanding various aspects specific to this chest pain population would assist in this evaluation. Methods Patients presenting with chest pain to an urban private ED in South Africa were identified from patient registers from 01 January to 31 December 2013. Patient data sheets were completed for each patients by evaluating gender, age, race, triage diagnosis, time of arrival, mode of transportation and disposition amongst other variables before analysis was completed. Results A total of 939 chest pain presentations were identified. 862 patient presentations were analysed. The largest age group represented was 30-39 years. Race distribution was 55.7% white, 30.1% black, 10.8% indian, 2.3% coloured and 0.23% asian. 55.1% of patient were male and 44% female .An average of 2 patient presentations was seen daily with 60.2% presenting during the day period and 39.8% at night. 81.7% of patients were triaged as orange, 7.3% red, 7.1% yellow and 2.6% green. 92.6% of patients arrived via non-medical transportation and 7.31% arrived via ambulance. Diagnostic groupings were as follows: No diagnosis (15.78%), cardiac (22.74%), respiratory (18.45%), gastro-intestinal (15.89%), musculoskeletal (14.73%) and psychiatric/psychological (7.77%). 13% has life-threatening conditions. 70.53% of patients were discharged, while 22.97% were admitted. Conclusion Chest pain remains a complicated entity for ED evaluation. Understanding aspects of the patient population assist the ED doctor in guiding investigation and appropriate resource allocation. ED doctors actively work to exclude life-threatening causes. While there is no doubt that this is important, the low incidence in this population, raises the question of whether current systems may overemphasise this with a resultant high resource cost in terms of staffing, time and investigation.MB201

Extending corporate social responsibility programmes in the food retail industry to social grant recipients.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The study proposes a corporate social responsibility (CSR) model for willing, major local food retailers, in an attempt to supplement existing poverty alleviation initiatives in South Africa. The study is motivated by the fact that nearly a third of the population receives state social grants and that these grants are used to support family members in the context of multiple socio-economic challenges. The study focuses on a particular crisis — the lack of access to basic food commodities. A lack of food has far reaching consequences as it impacts overall health, psycho-social wellbeing, productivity levels and most of all, a person’s sense of dignity. The proposed CSR model serves to produce consumer pricing for some basic food commodities, set far below the national average for inflation, exclusively for social grant recipients. Reduced consumer pricing is envisaged through a subsidisation scheme that involves a partnership between participating retail chains and their customers. The CSR model also requires collaborations between participating retailers, their supporting industries, the State and well-established NGOs with an intimate knowledge of the needs of poor communities. The proposed CSR model is a culmination of research into four areas. Firstly, the study delineates the extent to which social grants address poverty and socio-economic inequality in South Africa. Secondly, to explore the relationship between poverty and the access to affordable basic foods, the study examines India’s Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) — a nationwide basic food distribution programme designed to respond mass poverty. Thirdly, the study attempts to determine the potential of CSR programmes in attenuating poverty levels. Finally, the study evaluates two specific CSR programmes, KFC’s Add Hope and the Woolworths Group’s MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet, in order to establish the possibility of adapting aspects of these CSR programmes to suggest a new CSR model for major, local food retail chains. The study employs John Rawls’ theory of distributive justice which explores the idea of justice as fairness (Rawls, 1999). The theoretical choice is apt because Rawls uses basic theoretical elements to suggest that a just society can permit social and economic inequalities amongst primary social goods — such as wealth and income — provided that such inequalities produce maximum expected social benefits for the least advantaged. Upon researching the four areas of interest, the study finds firstly, that despite the efficacy of social grants in preventing people from falling into destitution, grant amounts alone are insufficient in producing the desired redistributive effects. Secondly, through the exploration of the TPDS, the study finds a positive correlation between access to subsidised basic foods and poverty reduction. However, the study also establishes that a system such as the TPDS cannot be transplanted in South Africa because of the severe constraints on the South African economy. Thirdly, the study finds theoretical evidence that supports the efficacy of strategic CSR in producing ‘shared value’/mutual benefit for corporates and society. Finally, evaluations of the Add Hope and the MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet campaigns, highlight the possibility of adapting aspects of these programmes in order to suggest the study’s proposed CSR model which is aimed at creating ‘shared value’ for greater redistributive effects

Problems and challenges of global sourcing at Defy Appliances.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Studies have shown that global sourcing is in one direction whereby global manufacturers from developed countries purchase low-cost materials and products from developing countries. Undoubtedly, one of the purchasing bases for them is China because of its abundant resources and cheap labour. That is why China is called the “Global Factory.” However, the higher demand for technical quality and an increase in manufacturing cost is driving more manufacturers to adopt a global sourcing strategy to improve their competitive advantage. That is why many South African manufacturers are currently adopting a global sourcing strategy to help optimize the use of global resources. The purpose of this study is to analyse what problems and challenges DEFY, a domestic appliance manufacturing company in South Africa, face in the implementation of a global sourcing strategy. The study analyses the problems encountered at Defy Appliances (Pty) Ltd when implementing a global sourcing strategy. To achieve this objective a quantitative investigation will be performed amongst employees in the relative departments within the organization that are involved in material design selection, international purchasing, global sourcing, supplier selection and overall costs gain/loss. The respondents will be selected from the following departments within the organization that is, Research & Development, Procurement, Planning, Logistics and Production Engineering. Hence a quantitative research study is adopted using a questionnaire as the research instrument. Pursuing global sourcing is a time-consuming process and involves many challenges. In this complex situation, there is no universal compass to pursue global sourcing. Inexperienced South African manufacturers experience challenges related to logistics capabilities, selecting foreign sources, protectionism, regulations, and so on when developing policies and procedures for advanced level of global sourcing. The important driving force for Defy Appliances pursuing global sourcing is improved technology and cost savings. The investigation and analysis carried out in the study shows that Defy will not pose a major risk in implementing global sourcing

A model for context awareness for mobile applications using multiple-input sources

Context-aware computing enables mobile applications to discover and benefit from valuable context information, such as user location, time of day and current activity. However, determining the users’ context throughout their daily activities is one of the main challenges of context-aware computing. With the increasing number of built-in mobile sensors and other input sources, existing context models do not effectively handle context information related to personal user context. The objective of this research was to develop an improved context-aware model to support the context awareness needs of mobile applications. An existing context-aware model was selected as the most complete model to use as a basis for the proposed model to support context awareness in mobile applications. The existing context-aware model was modified to address the shortcomings of existing models in dealing with context information related to personal user context. The proposed model supports four different context dimensions, namely Physical, User Activity, Health and User Preferences. A prototype, called CoPro was developed, based on the proposed model, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model. Several experiments were designed and conducted to determine if CoPro was effective, reliable and capable. CoPro was considered effective as it produced low-level context as well as inferred context. The reliability of the model was confirmed by evaluating CoPro using Quality of Context (QoC) metrics such as Accuracy, Freshness, Certainty and Completeness. CoPro was also found to be capable of dealing with the limitations of the mobile computing platform such as limited processing power. The research determined that the proposed context-aware model can be used to successfully support context awareness in mobile applications. Design recommendations were proposed and future work will involve converting the CoPro prototype into middleware in the form of an API to provide easier access to context awareness support in mobile applications

Peer-to-peer systems for simple and flexible information sharing

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-80).Peer to peer computing (P2P) is an architecture that enables applications to access shared resources, with peers having similar capabilities and responsibilities. The ubiquity of P2P computing and its increasing adoption for a decentralized data sharing mechanism have fueled my research interests. P2P networks are useful for sharing content files containing audio, video, and data. This research aims to address the problem of simple and flexible access to data from a variety of data sources across peers with different operating systems, databases and hardware. The proposed architecture makes use of SQL queries, web services, heterogeneous database servers and XML data transformation for the peer to peer data sharing prototype. SQL queries and web services provide a data sharing mechanism that allows both simple and flexible data access

Teaching and Learning in Racially/Culturally Diverse Classrooms in a Post-Apartheid South Africa

Student Number : 8708508W - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of HumanitiesAs the title implies, this research concerned the convergence of race and culture in school settings. How the two categories are related is a complex matter, especially in the context of South Africa where race has played, and continues to play, a critical role in the formation of culture. The study aimed to investigate the dynamics of teaching and learning in racially diverse classrooms in three historically white former Model C Schools in Ekhuruleni East District of Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). To this end I conducted a multiple case study with Grade 8 pupils and their teachers, with a primary intention of illuminating the challenges, attitudes and emotions experienced by teachers and pupils, as well as the dynamics between teachers and pupils, and among pupils. Eight questions guided the data collection through extended on-site observation and interviews: (i) What are the experiences and challenges of teachers and pupils in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (ii) How do teachers and pupils respond to these experiences and challenges? (iii) What preparation if any, have teachers had in order to face these challenges in racially/culturally diverse classrooms? (iv) How do teachers and pupils and pupils and pupils from diverse race groups interact? (v) What are teachers and pupils opinions about racially diverse classrooms?(vi) What is the significance of race to pupils at the three schools? (vii) How is race conceptualised and lived at school? (viii) What is the impact of the discourse of race on the lives of black pupils? The theoretical framework of this research is situated in the field of teaching and cultural diversity. In order to place the research questions and findings in the context of international and local research and debate on cultural diversity in education, I consulted a wide range of both international and local literature. The thesis presents the main research findings, in terms of four broad themes that cut across the research questions: Change, Subjective Reality and Assimilation; Discourse of Blame and Cultural Deficit Discourse; Home Culture versus School Culture; Perceived Racism or Racism as a Consequence of Change. The analysed data revealed that teachers’ were frustrated and it was evident from their subjective reality that they were not dealing well with change. Pupils preferred homogeneous groups rather than integrated groups thus there was little interaction between racial groups. Hostility was evident and in some cases resulted in fights between black and white pupils. Black pupils perceived the presence of racism among some white teachers and pupils This study could, despite its limitations, pave the way for far more elaborate studies to be conducted.. Since statutory racial integration in South Africa is only ten years old the discourse of racial diversity needs to be illuminated through extensive and intensive research. Teachers need to address both social and educational aims simultaneously as the findings suggest that unless teachers acknowledge and understand diversity in their classrooms and understands the backgrounds of their pupils; these pupils are likely to remain marginalised and desegregated schools run the risk of not contributing to social change