Measurement of induction motor parameters using the Voltech PM6000 power analyser

The aim of this project was to configure the Voltech PM6000 Power Analyser to measure the voltages, currents and power in two different induction motors under various test conditions. These measurements were then used to determine the parameters of each motor’s equivalent circuit. The equivalent circuit is a per-phase representation of a three phase induction motor that can be used to model a real-world machine..

Enablers and inhibitors associated with the willingness to participate in child safety initiatives

Safety is a priority in South Africa, a country with amongst the highest recorded rates of violence and injury, with children a vulnerable group. The greatest opportunities for reducing the burden of violence and injury   amongst children lies in the prevention of harmful environments and situations. Information on the psychosocial inhibitors and enablers of child safety promotion interventions are required to enhance and assure the efficacy of interventions. The determination of context-specific information is expected to be of considerable benefit to community uptake and impact of safety interventions. The primary aim of this study is to determine the factors that enable or inhibit the willingness to participate in child safety interventions. This qualitative study is located in a historically marginalised and under-resourced community consisting of low-cost government housing and backyard dwellings and situated 4km outside of Strand in the Western Cape, South Africa. Eleven interviews were conducted with long standing community members who had either attended, had knowledge on, or experience of child safety initiatives conducted in their community. The study utilised a thematic analysis within a Person-Process-Context-Time theoretical framework. The findings indicate that willingness to participate is influenced by multiple and interconnected enablers and inhibitors. The personal, relational and environmental factors included: muted individual agency (comprised of hopelessness and struggling alone, scepticism, and experiences of daily living struggles); community care provision (limited community connectedness, care and concern for children, and neighbourliness); and structural, physical and social constraints (competing priorities, unequal power relations, and physical community impediments

Zero-tolerance drink-driving and road safety in South Africa: What are the options?

Alcohol is a major contributing factor to the burden of road traffic crashes and injuries in South Africa. There has been an increase in political interest and engagement on the issue of drink-driving in recent months following government restrictions on the sale and public consumption of alcohol during the COVID-19 lockdowns along with proposed zero-tolerance drink-driving legislation. In this paper, we critically examine global research and experiences with the adoption of zero-tolerance approaches to drink-driving along with key South African contextual considerations to provide evidence-based and contextually relevant recommendations for advancing zero-tolerance drink-driving legislation in the country. There is significant evidence to support the adoption of zero-tolerance legislation but at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold limit for the general driving population set at 0.02 g/100 mL (rather than the zero-BAC limit proposed through the Road Traffic Amendment Bill) to allow for variance in testing. Recommendations centre on the proposed legislation incorporating a gradualist approach and its location within a broader zero-tolerance approach that includes other complementary interventions to enable implementation. Significance: The recommended blood alcohol level of 0.02 g/100 mL is lower than the best practice limit recommended by the World Health Organization of 0.05 g/100 mL, following consideration of the road safety and general alcohol consumption challenges in South Africa and evidence of success from other similar country contexts. Broad principles and recommendations are presented to support the sustainable adoption of zero-tolerance drink-driving legislation in the country

Child road traffic crash injuries at the Red Cross war memorial children’s hospital in Cape Town South Africa in 1992, 2002 and 2012

Road traffic crashes are a significant cause of the disease burden among children, with the highest mortality in low- and middle-income countries. This observational study explores such injuries in Cape Town, South Africa through an analysis of data for cases in 1992, 2002 and 2012 at the Red Cross War Memorial Children\u27s Hospital, a referral paediatric hospital for children younger than 13 years. Descriptive and time trend analysis of demographic data as well as of the causes, severity and place of injury was conducted. Logistic regression and generalised linear models described factors influencing hospital admission. In the years 1992, 2002 and 2012, a total of 4690 patients presented with injuries sustained as a result of a road traffic crash. Nearly 50% (n = 2201) of them were between five and nine years of age, with 1.7 males for every female. Three-quarters of those who got injured were pedestrians while the second most commonly injured ones were unrestrained passengers. The majority had minor injuries (58%), but with notably higher proportions with moderate to severe injuries in the years 2002 and 2012. Forty per cent were admitted for inpatient treatment, with the highest proportion (50%) in 2002. Admission was related to mechanism and severity. The epidemiological factors assessed remain largely unchanged over the assessment points calling into question the impact of local safety strategies

Differentiation of paediatric burn injury by household energy source in South Africa

Burn injuries remain a significant cause of death and disability in the global south, with children amongst the most vulnerable. In South Africa, burns are a critical health and economic burden in densely populated and energy-impoverished communities. This study used secondary data on burn injuries from 19 health facilities to differentiate between risk for scalds and flame burns across three household energy sources (firewood, paraffin and electricity). The sample was 2 933 cases of child burn victims, with key analytical procedures being descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Results showed that 52% of burn injury admissions reported electricity as the household energy source used at the time of injury. Most burn injuries were scalds (85.3%), with infants and toddlers at greatest risk. The differentiation between wood and paraffin was associated with a threefold increase in scalds relative to flame burns, while that between paraffin and electricity indicated a sevenfold increase in scalds and nineteen times such an increase between wood and electricity. This was an indication of continued challenges for the country in addressing paediatric burns despite, and in the context of, the continued electrification of poor households. The study recommends improved regulation of electrical appliances used by low-income households, and targeted household safety education initiatives

Validation of an Assessment Tool to Measure Psycho-Social Factors Associated With Willingness to Participate in Child-Centered Initiatives

The aim of the paper was the validation of a psychosocial assessment tool for determining willingness to participate in child-centered safety promotion interventions, specifically in a low-income community in South Africa. A study was conducted as part of the initial validation to test the items and format the questionnaire. The instrument was then administered to Afrikaans speaking individuals in a community in the Western Cape. Iterative exploratory factor analysis was conducted at both the item and scale levels to select and reassign items and scales to determine the final composition of the questionnaire. The findings indicate that the instrument measures seven factors, namely incentives; priorities and community needs; perceived benefits; social approval; accessibility and values; altruistic capital; and community cohesion, which represents salient dimensions of the construct willingness to participate in interventions. The questionnaire and its subscales displayed acceptable to good reliability, with Cronbach’s α ranging from .55 to .80. Since willingness precedes actual participation, it is argued that insight into the factors that relate to willingness to participate provides an avenue for motivating actual participation.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The project was funded by the University of South Africa, the South African Medical Research Council, and the National Research Foundation.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Energy Transitions in the Global South and Africa: Policy Imperatives, System Dynamics and Challenges

Energy poverty is pervasive with significant health and well-being ramifications, especially for the Global South (United Nations Environment Program [UNEP], 2021). Energy-impoverished communities are those that are dependent on traditional solid fuels and flammable hydrocarbons that are usually burnt in unsafe, inefficient and polluting stoves. The health and economic consequences are far-reaching, primarily through household air pollution, burn injuries and poisonings, with consequential health, neurological and psychological outcomes (Haagsma, et al., 2016; Wolf, Prüss Ustün & Vickers, 2016). The socio-economic ramifications of the energy burden are enormous and generate social exclusion while limiting development in the affected countries (Guzowski, Martin & Zabaloy, 2021). With the accumulation of evidence of the impact of energy impoverishment, there have been increasing calls for expedited and inclusive transitions to safe and health-promotive energy. For such transitions to be truly just, they must centre on the needs of energy-impoverished people to ensure that no one is left behind (UNEP, 2021). There is also increasing consensus that access to safe and clean domestic energy is pivotal, if not a prerequisite, for a range of other global priorities beyond health, including environmental protection and sustainability, economic development and gender equality (Wolf et al., 2016).Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Enablers of psychosocial recovery in pediatric burns: perspectives from the children, parents and burn recovery support staff

Abstract Background Pediatric burn injuries are a major cause of death and injury, occurring mainly in resource poor environments. Recovery from burns is widely reported to be constrained by physical, psychological, relationship and reintegration challenges. These challenges have been widely described, but not the enablers of psychosocial recovery. This is especially true in pediatric burn research, with few multi- perspective studies on the recovery process. Methods This qualitative study involved 8 focus group discussions (four with 15 children post-burn injury, four with 15 caregivers) and 12 individual interviews with staff working in pediatric burns that explored the psychosocial needs of children after a burn and the enablers of their recovery. Purposive sampling was utilized and recruitment of all three categories of participants was done primarily through the only hospital burns unit in the Western Cape, South Africa. The interviews focused on factors that supported the child’s recovery and were sequentially facilitated from the child and the family’s experiences during hospitalization, to the return home to family and friends, followed by re-entry into school. Thematic analysis was used to analyze verbatim interview transcripts. Results The recovery enablers that emerged included: (i) Presence and reassurance; indicating the comfort and practical help provided by family and close friends in the hospital and throughout the recovery process; (ii) Normalizing interactions and acceptance; where children were treated the same as before the injury to promote the acceptance of self and by others especially once the child returned home; and (iii) Sensitization of others and protection; signifying how persons around the child had assisted the children to deal with issues in the reintegration process including the re-entry to school. Conclusions This study indicates that the psychosocial recovery process of children hospitalized for burns is enabled by the supportive relationships from family members, close friends and burn staff, present during hospitalization, the return home, and school re-entry. Support included comfort and physical presence of trusted others and emotional support; affirmation of the child’s identity and belonging despite appearance changes; and the advocacy and protection for the re-entry back into the school, and more generally the community

Schoolbus driver performance can be improved with driver training, safety incentivisation, and vehicle roadworthy modifications

In South Africa (SA), the school transport industry provides millions of children with a means of travelling to and from school. The industry has, however, been reported to be plagued by widespread safety concerns. The consequent road traffic incidents have often been attributed to driver factors, including driving in excess of legal speeds or at inappropriate speeds; driving while under the influence of alcohol, while sleepy or fatigued; or driving without using protective equipment for vehicle occupants. There are currently very few SA interventions that specifically target this important industry role-player. The Safe Travel to School Programme was recently implemented by a national child safety agency, with a focus on driver road safety awareness, defensive driver training, eye-testing, vehicle roadworthy inspections with selected upgrades, incentives for safe performance, and implementation of a vehicle telematics tracking system with regular, individual driving behaviour information updates. This quasi-experimental study offers an evaluation of the initial impact on safety performance of this telematics-based driver and vehicle safety intervention in terms of speeding, acceleration, braking, cornering, and time-of-day driving, and compares the school transport driver performance with that of general motorists. Despite concerns that some school transport vehicles are used for multiple purposes outside of school transport duties, at night, and for longer distances, overall these vehicles recorded lower percentages of speeding, lower harsh braking, and lower average harsh cornering and acceleration than general driversInstitute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

The Safer Candle Project: preventing fires from fallen candles

Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS