Verwantskapsbepaling in die Dierkunde

Dit is ’n voorveronderstelling van alle natuurwetenskaplike navorsing dat dienatuur, waarvan die mens ook ’n deel uitmaak, nie ’n chaos nie maar ’n ordelikegeheel is. Hierdie ordelikheid word nie deur die mens in die natuur ingedra niemaar kan slegs broksgewys deur waarneming en navorsing uit die natuur geabstraheerword

Professor G.T.S. Eiselen

In 1957 het daar reeds, uit die penvan prof. J. Chr. Coetzee, ’n lewenskets verskyn van die man na wie deur sowel sy studente as sy junior kollegas met toegeneëntheid as prof Eisie verwys word

Identifying the challenges of creating an optimal dissemination geography for census

The importance of census data in government and private-sector planning cannot be underestimated. However, the geographic level at which it is made available for different users, is a highly debateable issue. It is crucial that census data is disseminated in such a way that it satisfies most user needs as far as possible, to ensure that there is optimum use of the information and that maximum value for money is provided. In the past, Statistics South Africa disseminated data at the same geographic level created for data collection. This causes problems for data users and calls for the creation of a separate output geography rather than using the original collection geography.The research was done on two levels: first, an overview of output geographies, as well as examples of developed and successfully used tools to generate these areas within a geographical information system. Some of these could be used in the South African milieu. Secondly the paper discuss aspects such as the population size variation of EAs, in order to inform the criteria for the creation of the ideal small area (SA) layer to satisfy the majority of user needs. Lastly the paper describes briefly the challenges faced to create the 2011 output geography. The results indicate a strong resemblance between the two EA population size patterns of 2001 and 2011, influenced by the EA demarcation rules. The challenges identified in the process of creating the SAL as a census output geography need to be taken into consideration to enable a more useful and user-friendly output

Histoplasmosis - cave disease

No Abstrac

Reflexology versus reflexology and colour therapy combined for treating chronic sinusitis

Published ArticleAccording to Wills reflexology entails the division of the body into ten zones, concentrating on the pressure points on the feet, with each foot representing five zones (2006: Online). Colour therapy uses the vibrational frequencies of colour to restore the client's health. Colour zone therapy on the other hand, is a combination of reflexology and colour therapy. Zone refers to the working of key points on the feet, where colour refers to the assessment of the condition and treating it with the correct colour's frequency (Gimbel, 1993: 2-3). Reflexology uses a physical stimulus and colour therapy, emotional stimulus, thus colour zone therapy addresses both. In this study the researcher's objective was to investigate treatments with reflexology compared with treatments of colour zone therapy, by treating chronic sinusitis to explore the influence of colour on the outcome of reflexology treatments. Ten chronic sinusitis-suffering clients were treated with reflexology in a white cubicle. Another ten clients were treated with colour zone therapy (thus colour therapy as well as reflexology). They had indigo coloured paper in their hands. Results were obtained as case studies, with clients reporting how they felt before and after each treatment. Each client received five treatments. The results indicated that the reflexology clients did experience an improvement after the fourth treatment. By the fifth treatment three of the ten clients had discharged some mucus. However, clients treated with colour zone therapy showed results after the second treatment. At the fourth treatment, already seven of the ten colour zone therapy clients had discharged a large amount of mucus. This concludes that treating a condition with colour, in combination with another treatment provides better and quicker results

Do Traumatic Events Have More Impact on the Development of Dental Anxiety Than Negative, Non-traumatic Events?

The importance of exposure to traumatic events for the development of dental anxiety has not been investigated. The aim of the present study was to test the hypotheses that individuals who reported having been exposed to a traumatic event [that is, fulfilling Criterion A of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] as the cause of their dental anxiety would report significantly higher levels of dental anxiety, typical trauma-related (PTSD) symptoms, and greater disturbance of memories involving these events than those who reported being exposed to non-traumatic events. Patients of a specialized dental fear clinic (n = 90) were divided into those who reported a traumatic event that initiated their dental trait anxiety and those who did not. The two groups did not differ in their severity of dental anxiety and number of PTSD symptoms, but the memories of those who had been exposed to traumatic events were significantly more vivid than the memories of those in the reference group. Length of time since the event took place did not play a role. Hence, traumatic events are remembered more vividly, but do not seem to initiate more severe forms of dental anxiety than other events

Hedgehog signalling acts upstream of Laminin alpha1 transcription in the zebrafish paraxial mesoderm

Laminin-111 (α1β1γ1) is a member of the Laminin family of extra-cellular matrix proteins that comprises 16 members, components of basement membranes. Laminin-111, one of the first Laminin proteins synthesised during embryogenesis, is required for basement membrane deposition and has essential roles in tissue morphogenesis and patterning. Yet, the mechanisms controlling Laminin-111 expression are poorly understood. We generated a zebrafish transgenic reporter line that reproduces faithfully the expression pattern of lama1, the gene encoding Laminin α1, and we used this reporter line to investigate lama1 transcriptional regulation. Our findings established that lama1 expression is controlled by intronic enhancers, including an enhancer directing expression in the paraxial mesoderm, anterior spinal cord and hindbrain, located in intron 1. We show that Hedgehog signalling is necessary and sufficient for lama1 transcription in the paraxial mesoderm and identify putative Gli/Zic binding sites that may mediate this control. These findings uncover a conserved role for Hedgehog signalling in the control of basement membrane assembly via its transcriptional regulation of lama1, and provide a mechanism to coordinate muscle cell fate specification in the zebrafish embryo

A quality management system for the Namibia Water Corporation Limited.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.A company cannot survive without giving attention to quality. Ensuring quality in products is so important that many companies give major attention to actively managing processes to make sure that quality permeates everything the company does. Quality management is a company's unique approach for addressing all aspects of quality. It requires vision, a quality policy, a quality standard, a quality system and the control of the system. The water industry is a natural monopoly in which no competition exists to provide customers the opportunity to choose between different suppliers. Due to the monopolistic nature of a water utility, the tendency was previously to neglect the customer and his needs. For water utilities, the quality of the product water has always been the important factor mainly because of their responsibility towards the protection of public health. The quality emphasis was mainly towards meeting the demands of the primary and secondary sector of the water industry that is to provide water of an acceptable standard to the customers. It was only during the 1980's that water utilities became concerned about service quality in pursuance of the example set by the broader industry. Since then the emphasis on quality shifted gradually towards the tertiary sector of the water industry, the provision of quality services to the customer. The Namibia Water Corporations Act, 1997 requires that a performance contract should be concluded between the owners of the company (the State) and the Corporation. It further requires that the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) should formulate and maintain service standards in respect of the provision of water, services or facilities. As both these requirements are primarily based on efficiency, performance,achievements, cost-effectiveness and the optimum use of resources, there is a need to develop a system that will address all these aspects. This document describes the outcome of a study to develop a quality management system for NamWater that will address all these aspects, to identify shortcomings within NamWater and to monitor progress regarding meeting the quality standards on a continuous basis. Together with the development of a proposed quality policy document, this study also resulted in the compilation of a proposed set of service standards as prescribed by the Namibia Water Corporation Act of 1997. Performance gaps where existing practices in NamWater do not meet industry's best practice were identified by making use of performance indicators developed by the International Water Association (IWA) and the benchmarking exercise of the Water Utility Partnership (WUP). A set of performance indicators was developed to monitor the progress of NamWater in meeting standards on a continuous basis. The study concludes with a proposal for a quality management system for NamWater to ensure that the work is carried out in accordance with the quality policy and the quality standards. To identify possible performance gaps in NamWater, the information from the Water Utility Partnership programme on performance indicators and benchmarking was used to evaluate the performance of the NamWater against other water utilities in Africa. In general terms, the performance of NamWater is better than in many other African countries. However, by evaluating the results of the benchmarking exercise performance gaps were identified within NamWater that needs urgent attention. This study identifies the Sales Process as being the area to concentrate on as a first priority, with the focus on the improvement of revenue collection, the improvement of customer relations and the decrease in total cost. The Support Process should be the second priority with the improvement of the asset management organisation high on the list. There are two fields in the Production Process that needs special attention. They are unaccounted-for-water, and supply interruptions. The identification of industry's best performers in the various fields where performance gaps exist is beyond the scope of this study. It will form part of the implementation phase of a quality management system for NamWater. To monitor NamWater's performance on a continuous basis over time in meeting the requirements of the quality policy, various performance indicators have been identified. These indicators will also identify future performance gaps, determine various performance trends in the company, and measure and monitor the benefits of the implementation of best practice. Performance indicators were identified (from the IWA and WUP programmes) due to the fact that it will serve the abovementioned purpose and it is compatible with the present situation within NamWater. As can be seen from the performance gap analysis all three processes in the NamWater organisation have shortcomings that will have to be addressed through a quality management system. The situation is ideal for the implementation of TQM for NamWater. Such a project should be high on the priority list of the management of the company