An exploratory analysis of the corporate identity of selected national government departments in South Africa

A communication task team appointed by the Government of South Africa in 1996suggested that there should be one corporate identity for the government. A problemresulting from this suggestion was what this unitary corporate identity should reflectand which elements it should include.This article is based on a study into the viability of creating one corporate identity forall the South African government departments.Background is given for a government decision to create one corporate identity. Theview that corporate identity consists of the integration between visual identity andbehavioural identity and its possible application on the government departments ofSouth Africa is discussed.The main finding of this study is that the current corporate identity of four selectedgovernment departments consists of corporate service and behaviour, dynamism andvisual identit

Google search by image : a system evaluation of adjusted images for the detection of visual plagiarism

Published ArticleThis paper investigates the precision of Google™'s Search by Image (SBI) system which lecturers can use to establish a workflow that will combat visual plagiarism in photography programmes. Currently no efficacious visual plagiarism detection method exists for implementation by photography lecturers. Content-based image retrieval systems like Google™ SBI have not yet been tested systemically for the detection of visual plagiarism. Using the Precision method to calculate the accuracy of the system, 300 images were randomly sampled through Google™ Images and altered with different adjustments. The images were uploaded to Google™ SBI and the results indicated a system of high quality

Strong plasmonic fluorescence enhancement of individual plant light-harvesting complexes

Plasmonic coupling of metallic nanoparticles and adjacent pigments can dramatically increase the brightness of the pigments due to the enhanced local electric field. Here, we demonstrate that the fluorescence brightness of a single plant light-harvesting complex (LHCII) can be significantly enhanced when coupled to single gold nanorods (AuNRs). The AuNRs utilized in this study were prepared via chemical reactions, and the hybrid system was constructed using a simple and economical spin-assisted layer-by-layer technique. Enhancement of fluorescence brightness of up to 240-fold was observed, accompanied by a 109-fold decrease in the average (amplitude-weighted) fluorescence lifetime from approximately 3.5 ns down to 32 ps, corresponding to an excitation enhancement of 63-fold and emission enhancement of up to 3.8-fold. This large enhancement is due to the strong spectral overlap of the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance of the utilized AuNRs and the absorption or emission bands of LHCII. This study provides an inexpensive strategy to explore the fluorescence dynamics of weakly emitting photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes at the single molecule level.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, 2 supplementary figures, and supplementary equation

The effect of different anaesthetic mask shapes on the anatomical dead space using infant, child and adult part-task trainers

Dead space is the portion of tidal volume that does not participate in alveolar gas exchange. The purpose of this study was to compare the dead space contribution of differently shaped masks, of the same size, by measuring the volume of each mask. The study was conducted in the Clinical Simulation Unit of the School of Medicine, University of the Free State (UFS) using formed masks with inflatable polyvinylchloride (PVC) cuffs and rounded masks with non-inflatable PVC cuffs. The masks were placed on the faces of the infant, child and adult part-task trainers as well as on a flat surface. The cuffs of the formed masks were inflated to 5 cm water and 70 cm water. Masks were filled with water and the volume was measured.The volumes (ml) of the masks on the flat surface were significantly larger than those measured on the part-task trainers’ faces. The volume of the rounded masks was greater than the volume of the formed masks. The amount of cuff inflation pressure (5 cm water vs. 70 cm water) did not lead to a significant change in mask volume: 102.3 ml (standard deviation [SD] 75.9) vs. 110.2 ml (SD 82.3), averaged for all sizes.Formed masks contribute less to anatomical dead space than rounded masks and are thus possibly the better choice. Cuff inflation pressure has insignificant influence on dead space volume.Keywords: anaesthesia, anatomical dead space, inhalation, masks, pulmonary ventilation, respirator

Post-Mortem Echocardiography as a Guide to Cardiac Autopsy—A Worthwhile Concept?

Sudden and unexpected death in the young is a common and worldwide problem. Sudden, unexpected death in infancy (SUDI), clinically unexpected death in an infant between one week and one year of age, affects around 1 in 1000 infants. Autopsy will reveal a specific cause of death in only one third of cases. This has led to various ancillary examinations in an effort to increase the diagnostic yield of the autopsy

Subendocardial Fibrosis in Left Ventricular Hypertrabeculation-Cause or Consequence?

Left ventricular noncompaction has been classified as a primary cardiomyopathy with a genetic origin. This condition is morphologically characterized by a thickened, two-layered myocardium with numerous prominent trabeculations and deep, intertrabecular recesses. Recently, it has become clear that these pathological characteristics extend across a continuum with left ventricular hypertrabeculation at one end of the spectrum

Patterns of substance use in South Africa: Results from the South African Stress and Health study

Background. There are limited data on substance use in SouthAfrica. We describe patterns of substance use based on recent, nationally representative data.Methods. Data were derived from the 2002 - 2004 South African Stress and Health (SASH) study. A nationally representative household probability sample of 4 351 adults was interviewed using the paper and pencil version of the World Health Organization Composite InternationalDiagnostic Interview (CIDI). Data are reported for lifetime use, socio-demographic correlates of use, and age of cohort predicting lifetime use for four classes of drugs.Results. The estimate for cumulative occurrence of alcohol use was 38.7%, of tobacco smoking 30.0%, of cannabis use 8.4%, of other drug use 2.0%, and of extra-medical psychoactive drug use 19.3%. There were statistically significant associations between male gender and alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other drug use. Coloureds and whites were more likely than blacks to have used alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Clear cohort variations existed in the age of initiation of drug use; these were most marked for other drugs and for extra-medicaldrug use. Use of all drug types was much more common in recent cohorts, with a similar cumulative incidence of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis use across age cohorts.Conclusions. Epidemiological patterns of use for alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, other drugs and extra-medical drugs provide the first nationally representative data. New findings on race and exploratory data on time trends provide a foundation for future epidemiological work on drug use patterns across birth cohorts and population subgroups inSouth Africa

Prevalence and correlates of atypical patterns of drug use progression: findings from the South African Stress and Health Study

Objective: Atypical sequences of drug use progression are thought to have important implications for the development of substance dependence. The extent to which this assumption holds for South African populations is unknown. This paper attempts to address this gap by examining the prevalence and correlates of atypical patterns of drug progression among South Africans. Method: Data on substance use and other mental health disorders from a nationally representative sample of 4351 South Africans were analysed. Weighted cross tabulations were used to estimate prevalence and correlates of atypical patterns of drug use progression. Results: Overall, 12.2% of the sample reported atypical patterns of drug use progression. The most common violation was the use of extra-medical drugs prior to alcohol and tobacco. Gender was significantly associated with atypical patterns of drug use with the risk pattern varying by the type of drug. None of the anxiety or mood disorders were associated with atypical patterns of use. Atypical patterns of drug use were not associated with increased risk for a lifetime substance use disorder. Conclusion: Atypical patterns of drug use initiation seem more prevalent in South Africa compared to other countries. The early use of extra-medical drugs is common, especially among young women. Drug availability and social environmental factors may influence patterns of drug use. The findings have important implications for prevention initiatives and future research.Key words: Substance use; Gateway violations; Mental disorders; South Afric

Robust Facility Location of Container Clinics: A South African Application

There is a lack of dynamic facility location models for developing countries that consider the changes in the problem environment over time, such as patient population and population migration. Therefore, this paper focuses on using optimization and goal programming to locate health care facilities in an uncertain environment using multiple possible future urban development senarios. To achieve this, a robust multi-objective facility location model is developed and used to determine locations for container clinic deployment over multiple years in selected communities in South Africa. A synthetic population and urban growth simulation model are used to estimate population density and distribution from 2018 to 2030 for three development senarios. The results from the urban growth simulation model are then used as input into the facility location model to locate facilities whilst considering the three future development scenarios. Results of the model indicate that the robust model can be used to find locations that provide a relatively good solution to all considered development scenarios, providing key role players with quantitative decision support during network design under uncertainty. An accessibility analysis investigates the impact of the prescribed accessibility percentage on model results and a budget analysis evaluates the impact of a case that includes a budget constraint. From these two analyses it is illustrated that the model is sensitive to changes in parameters and that the model can be used by key stakeholders to combine network design and urban development planning for improved decision making