The causes of high intra-regional road freight rates for food and commodities in Southern Africa

Abstract: This paper focuses on key areas for reducing transport costs in Southern Africa emerging from recent research on cross-border freight between Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We consider the impact of competition, border delays and lack of return loads on transport rates which could be reduced significantly through increased availability of return loads for transporters, linked to growing industrial capacity in each country. Furthermore, increased competition and reducing delays for transporters contributed to a large reduction in transport rates between Lusaka and Johannesburg, with similar effects from Malawi. Margins charged in refrigerated transport are high due to low levels of rivalry and lack of return loads. Measures to reduce border constraints and enable greater rivalry between transporters from different countries could have a downward effect on transport rates in the region which are shown to be above benchmarks for efficient transport

Customer perceptions of private banking products and services in a South African bank

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to determine customers’ perceptions of the quality of private banking products and services offered by X Private Bank (BPB). Private banking clients have attained a certain level of wealth along with definitive, uncompromising perceptions of service quality. The private banking clients under study are retail banking customers at Bank X. The decline in retail banking customers at Bank X has prompted the need to determine these private banking customers’ perceptions of service quality. Customer attrition suggests that customers may hold specific negative perceptions of the service quality of the institution. The quantitative research method was used in this study. Quantitative data was collected that provides valid and reliable statistical analysis to prove or disapprove the set propositions. The adapted SERVQUAL instrument was used to conduct face-to-face interviews to gather insights into customers’ perceptions. The study found that BPB clients hold positive perceptions of the quality of private banking services. The customers provided positive feedback on the number of dimensions of the SERVQUAL instrument, with the exception of responsiveness and empathy

Are we there yet : investigating the perceived causes of maternal mortalities in KwaNyuswa, Ezinqoleni Municipality.

Master of Social Science in Communication, Media and Society. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.Are We There Yet: Investigating the perceived causes of maternal mortalities in KwaNyuswa, Ezinqoleni Municipality. Studies conducted within Southern African countries link causes to the absence of the provision of maternal healthcare through accessible healthcare structures. Other factors which perpetuate mortalities are infections deriving from HIV/AIDS, particularly in South Africa and more specifically, within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Maternal mortalities are, by definition, the death of pregnant women at childbirth or during pregnancy due to various complications. With an annual record showing almost half a million pregnant women dying from causes, some known and others not, it is imperative to conduct this study, which is aimed at investigating causes of maternal mortality from perspectives of communication and culture, particularly within the rural community of KwaNyuswa. In conclusion, pertinent findings gathered through this study reveal that maternal health knowledge is lacking amongst pregnant women and women prior to falling pregnant. This included knowledge on prenatal and antenatal care. Additionally, the fear of HIV-testing acts as a barrier for mothers who seek maternal healthcare. The pregnant women fear testing positive, which then affects their agency meaning programmes such as the prevention from mother to child transfer (PMTCT), which are fully operational in KwaNyuswa. Additionally, traditional birth attendants (TBA) do not exist in this rural community; therefore they cannot be listed as contributing to maternal mortalities in this community. This study indicates that community caregivers act as a source of information and accountability for pregnant women, as they ensure attendance at necessary antenatal care appointments. This investigation revealed more than one child mortality case in the area and that a lack of transportation to healthcare facilities contributes to maternal mortalities. Lastly, inadequate service further disempowers pregnant women’s ability to secure maternal healthcare services. It is recommended that community perceptions around the PMTCT programme and the causes of child mortalities be considered for further investigation. Further, suggestions include a quantitative study which should be conducted in the KwaNyuswa rural area to determine the maternal mortality rate (MMR

Real Time Global Tests of the ALICE High Level Trigger Data Transport Framework

The High Level Trigger (HLT) system of the ALICE experiment is an online event filter and trigger system designed for input bandwidths of up to 25 GB/s at event rates of up to 1 kHz. The system is designed as a scalable PC cluster, implementing several hundred nodes. The transport of data in the system is handled by an object-oriented data flow framework operating on the basis of the publisher-subscriber principle, being designed fully pipelined with lowest processing overhead and communication latency in the cluster. In this paper, we report the latest measurements where this framework has been operated on five different sites over a global north-south link extending more than 10,000 km, processing a ``real-time'' data flow.Comment: 8 pages 4 figure

Study of W± boson in the ALICE muon spectrometer: considerations and analysis using the HLT tool

W± bosons produced in proton-proton collisions can be observed in the ALICE muon spectrometer via their decay into single muons at a transverse momentum, pt ~ Mw/2 40 GeV/c. However the identification of these single muons is complicated by a large amount of muonic background, especially in the low pt region. Therefore, it is necessary to apply precise pt cuts below the region of interest. This can be done by means of the High Level Trigger (HLT). In this paper we present the performance of detecting high pt muons at the HLT level. In order to improve the momentum resolution of the L0 trigger, fast clusterization of the tracking chambers together with L0 trigger matching and fast tracking reconstruction is applied. This will reduce the background in the high pt muon analysis

Impact of ‘Ideal Clinic’ implementation on patient waiting time in primary healthcare clinics in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa: A before-and-after evaluation

Background. Long waiting times are a major source of dissatisfaction for patients attending public healthcare facilities in South Africa (SA). The National Department of Health has identified this as one of six priority areas for improvement. Health system-strengthening (HSS) interventions to improve patient waiting time are being implemented in public health facilities across SA as part of the ‘Ideal Clinic’ model. The effect of these interventions on patient waiting time needs to be assessed and evidence generated for system improvement.Objectives. To determine the effect of Ideal Clinic HSS intervention on patient waiting time in public health facilities in Amajuba District, KwaZulu-Natal Province, SA.Methods. We implemented 12 months of HSS activity, including facility reorganisation and patient appointment scheduling. The major outcome of interest was the total time spent by patients in a facility during a visit. This was calculated as the median time spent, obtained through a ‘before-and-after’ intervention survey. Univariate and multivariate factors associated with waiting time were determined.Results. A total of 1 763 patients from nine clinics were surveyed before and after the intervention (n=860 at baseline and n=903 at follow-up). The median overall waiting time after the intervention was 122 minutes (interquartile range (IQR) 81 - 204), compared with 116 minutes (IQR 66 - 168) before (p<0.05). Individual facility results after the intervention were mixed. Two facilities recorded statistically significant reductions in patient waiting time, while three recorded significant increases (p<0.05). Patient load per nurse, type of service received and time of arrival in facilities were all independently associated with waiting time. Patients’ arrival patterns, which were determined by appointment scheduling, played a significant role in the results obtained.Conclusions. Implementation of the Ideal Clinic model in the selected facilities led to changes in patient waiting time. Observed changes were positive when a clinic appointment system was successfully implemented and negative when this was unsuccessful. We recommend strengthening of the appointment system component of the Ideal Clinic model to improve patient waiting time. Assessing facility waiting time performance in terms of average time spent by patients during a clinic visit was shown to be inadequate, and we suggest the inclusion of ‘proportion of clients who spent above the national waiting time threshold during their visit’ as a sensitive measure of performance