Studies in the gas chromatography of ammonia, with special reference to packings containing solutions of silver salts in some organic solvents

It has been found that the gas chromatography of ammonia on certain fixed phases containing salts yields chromatograms consisting of a peak followed by a plateau or a succession of plateaux of progressively decreasing height. Such chromatograms have been interpreted in terms of ammine formation in the column and methods have been theoretically elaborated for using measurements on the chromatograms to find the dissociation pressures of the ammines and the ratios of ammonia taken up to silver in the fixed phase. These methods require the calibration of the detector, so that ammonia partial pressures can be found from chromatogram heights, and this has been done by a chromatographic method. In most cases, the ratio of ammonia to silver in the fixed phase does not yield conclusive information on ammnine composition, because there is usually evidence that the salt is present in different forms or is only partially converted to ammine

The what, where, how and why of gene ontology—a primer for bioinformaticians

With high-throughput technologies providing vast amounts of data, it has become more important to provide systematic, quality annotations. The Gene Ontology (GO) project is the largest resource for cataloguing gene function. Nonetheless, its use is not yet ubiquitous and is still fraught with pitfalls. In this review, we provide a short primer to the GO for bioinformaticians. We summarize important aspects of the structure of the ontology, describe sources and types of functional annotations, survey measures of GO annotation similarity, review typical uses of GO and discuss other important considerations pertaining to the use of GO in bioinformatics applications

Studies in the gas chromatography of ammonia, with special reference to packings containing solutions of silver salts in some organic solvents

It has been found that the gas chromatography of ammonia on certain fixed phases containing salts yields chromatograms consisting of a peak followed by a plateau or a succession of plateaux of progressively decreasing height. Such chromatograms have been interpreted in terms of ammine formation in the column and methods have been theoretically elaborated for using measurements on the chromatograms to find the dissociation pressures of the ammines and the ratios of ammonia taken up to silver in the fixed phase. These methods require the calibration of the detector, so that ammonia partial pressures can be found from chromatogram heights, and this has been done by a chromatographic method. In most cases, the ratio of ammonia to silver in the fixed phase does not yield conclusive information on ammnine composition, because there is usually evidence that the salt is present in different forms or is only partially converted to ammine

A secondary analysis of the prevalence and risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders among undergraduate Health Sciences nursing and optometry students at the University of Johannesburg

Abstract: Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) are pain/discomfort individuals experience from bone, muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendon, spinal discs and joint cartilage as a result of work-related activities...M.Tech. (Chiropractic

Putting Africa on the Stand: A Bird’s Eye View of Climate Change Litigation on the Continent

Although climate change litigation is rapidly increasing worldwide, and despite Africa being one of the regions predicted to be most severely affected by climate change, the continent has not yet seen any significant growth in this specialized form of litigation. Only a comparatively small number of court cases have to date been recognized as climate change conflicts in Africa. While briefly reflecting on possible reasons for this surprising trend, the primary objective of this article is to offer a first comprehensive interrogation of the state and future prospects of climate change litigation in Africa with a focus on three cases from South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria. The analysis commences with a characterization of current trends in and forms of climate change litigation that are emerging the world over, including a brief assessment of the types of climate change conflicts that are usually litigated, and the challenges and advantages associated with this specialized form of litigation. The article then offers a discussion of the unique nature of climate change impacts in Africa and assesses how this could shape the type of litigable climate change conflicts on the continent. Drawing on three cases from the countries mentioned above, and mindful of the risk of over-generalizing, the authors highlight and critically reflect on possible emerging climate change litigation trends in African courts, while also comparing them to trends now emerging worldwide

The design of a new Cancer Research Institute and Laboratories for Durban.

Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.Medical research is not only a necessary part in the quest to improve the quality of life for people by finding new diagnostic procedures and treatment; it is also a multi billion rand endeavour. Africa itself poses a huge challenge in providing facilities to respond to the global network engaged in medical research. South Africa has responded in part to this need, and is a pioneer in medical research for the continent. In essence, the continent not only provides great challenges, but also great opportunities for research. Many of its facilities engage in collaborative research with global institutions, but these established ties do not adequately fulfil the capacity required. In addition to this, the research environment is constantly evolving. Not only is the process constantly changing, but also the environments in which the research is conducted and the attitude as to how research should be conducted. To stay as current in the field of medical research, new institutions need to respond to the technical, practical and philosophical changes in the field. The National Health Laboratory Services, a South African chapter 21 institution involved in research and diagnosis, is the proposed client for the cancer research institute to be designed. It has established research credentials in cancer; pioneering the national cancer register; and has established links to other national organisations, such as the Medical Research Council of South Africa

Optimization of the Virgin Active Group Exercise Communication System

Every Virgin Active health club has several independent instructors that teach group exercise classes at the facility. The current method of communicating with staff is very archaic and can be greatly improved upon. Not only in speed, but also potentially saving large amounts of money. Currently, there is no proper communication channel apart from SMS, IM, phone calls or the occasional email. The aim of this project is to write and trial a mobile application running on the iOS platform to accommodate most instructors. This will allow the club to easily communicate with a large number of instructors without the need to phone them one at a time or have the possibility of double bookings occurring. With the majority of clubs scheduled to get Apple iPads, using the iOS platform to write an application is an excellent way for managers to communicate with their respective instructors when the latter cannot teach their class.Thesis (B Eng. (Industrial and Systems Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2012

An investigation of data compression techniques for hyperspectral core imager data

We investigate algorithms for tractable analysis of real hyperspectral image data from core samples provided by AngloGold Ashanti. In particular, we investigate feature extraction, non-linear dimension reduction using diffusion maps and wavelet approximation methods on our data

Reducing Dimensionality of Hyperspectral Data with Diffusion Maps and Clustering with K-means and Fuzzy ART

It is very difficult to analyse large amounts of hyperspectral data. Here we present a method based on reducing the dimensionality of the data and clustering the result in moving toward classification of the data. Dimensionality reduction is done with diffusion maps, which interpret the eigenfunctions of Markov matrices as a system of coordinates on the original dataset in order to obtain an efficient representation of data geometric descriptions. Clustering is done using k-means and a neural network clustering theory, Fuzzy ART (FA). The process is done on a subset of core data from AngloGold Ashanti, and compared to results obtained by AngloGold Ashanti\u27s proprietary method. Experimental results show that the proposed methods are promising in addressing the complicated hyperspectral data and identifying the minerals in core samples

The pattern of rheumatic heart disease in the urbanized Bantu of Johannesburg

No Abstract