Kultuurorganisasies binne bepaalde beroepsgroepe

Daar bestaan in Suid-Afrika ’n aantal kultuurverenigings wat hulle lede uitsluitlik of hoofsaaklik uit die personeel van ’n bepaalde beroepsgroep trek, naamlik die Afrikaanse Taalen Kultuurvereniging (Suid-Afrikaanse Spoorweë en Hawens), afgekort tot A.T.K.V. (S.A.S. en H.), die Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurbond (Pos- en Telegraafwese), (A.T.K.B. (P. en T.)), die Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniging van die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisie (Akpol) en die Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniging van die Weermag (A.K.V.V.)

Destratification induced by bubble plumes as a means to reduce evaporation from open impoundments

The use of thermal mixing by means of compressed air appears to have important potential for evaporation suppression on deep reservoirs. Current methods used to reduce evaporation from open-water impoundments such as floating covers, modular covers, monolayers and shade structures have many disadvantages and negative impacts on the environment. These methods impact the natural/modified aquatic ecosystem established in the dam; alter aesthetic qualities; increase the risk of dam failure in times of flood; could potentially lead to an oxygen reduction in the water; and may compromise the natural water treatment functions and operations such as the reduction of harmful bacteria, exposure to sunlight (form of disinfection) and natural and mechanical aeration thereby increasing treatment costs.The methodology proposed in this paper to help reduce evaporation losses from open-water impoundments, which indirectly addresses problems of water shortage and the associated economic impacts, involves the destratification of the water body using a bubble plume operated with minimal energy input to reduce surface water temperatures, with, a subsequent reduction in evaporation. The literature, although limited, indicates that this proposed method has merit and requires further research to identify specific reservoirs (size, depth, usage) that could benefit from such a destratification system. Evaporation suppression of as high as 30 % was achieved in some case studies

Student-informed directives for clinical communication skills training in undergraduate healthcare programmes: Perspectives from a South African university

Background. Clinical communication skills (CCS) are fundamental to good-quality healthcare and health outcomes, but remain problematic for healthcare students – in particular in the multilingual, multicultural South African context. As CCS can be taught, the importance of CCS training in healthcare programmes, as the basis of clinical practice, is well known.Objectives. To suggest practical, student-informed directives for CCS training, we explored current challenges of undergraduate healthcare students and their CCS training.Methods. The research was conducted in two phases. A mixed-methods approach was followed in phase 1, including a questionnaire survey (n=38) and semi-structured interviews (n=19), among third-year physiotherapy students. A quantitative questionnaire survey was conducted in phase 2 among final-year allied healthcare students (n=105).Results. Results from phase 1 indicated that students found it difficult to communicate with other members of the healthcare team (64%) and with patients’ families (82%). Students indicated that language barriers influenced their treatment of patients negatively. In phase 2 of the research, only 43% of students indicated previous exposure to CCS training, and they supported the inclusion of specific CCS training methods throughout their undergraduate education.Conclusions. CCS training directives, which are specifically focused on patient, family, interdisciplinary and written communication and enhancement of the student voice in the training, are suggested for inclusion in undergraduate healthcare programmes

Optimising water distribution systems using a weighted penalty in a genetic algorithm

Genetic algorithms (GAs) have become the preferred water system design optimisation technique for many researchers and practitioners. The main reason for using GAs is their ability to deal with nonlinear complex optimisation problems. The optimal decision in terms of designing, expansion/extending, addition or rehabilitation of water supply systems has to review possible options and select a cost-effective and efficient solution. This paper presents a new approach in determining a penalty value depending on the degree of failure, of the set pressure criteria, and the importance of the link supplying a specific node. Further modifications are also made in the cross-over and mutation procedures to ensure an increase in algorithm convergence. EPANET, a widely used water distribution network simulation model, is used in conjunction with the proposed newly developed GA for the optimisation of water distribution systems. The developed GA procedure has been incorporated in a software package called GANEO, which can be used to design new networks, analyse existing networks and prioritise improvements on existing networks. The developed GA has been tested on several international benchmark problems and has proved to be very efficient and robust. The EPANET hydraulic modelling software as well as the developed GANEO software, which performs the optimisation of the water distribution network, is freeware. The software provides a tool for consulting engineers to optimise the design or rehabilitation of a water distribution network.Keywords: optimising, water distribution system, genetic algorith

Дотик до вічності. Про розроблення нового історико/архітектурного плану м. Керчі

У 2009 р. автору статті було доручено очолити історико-містобудівні дослідження одного з найцікавіших стародавніх міст нашої країни Керчі. Метою досліджень було складання нового історико/архітектурного опорного плану з визначенням історичного ареалу і зони охорони найбільш цінних територій в межах сучасного міста

Approximate performance analysis of production lines with continuous material flows and finite buffers

In this paper, we analyze production lines consisting of a number of machines or servers in series with a finite buffer between each pair of machines. The flow of products through the machines is continuous. Each machine suffers from breakdowns, because of, for example, failures, cleaning and changeover. The up- and downtimes are independent and generally distributed. We develop a new method to efficiently and accurately estimate the throughput and the mean buffer content of the production line. This method relies on decomposition of the production line into two-stage, one-buffer subsystems aggregating the up- and downstream part of the line. For each subsystem, the parameters of the aggregate up- and downtimes are determined iteratively by employing matrix-analytic techniques. The proposed method performs very well on a large test set consisting of over 49,000 cases. Remarkably, the performance of the method does not deteriorate in case of highly unpredictable up- and downtimes, as often seen in practice. We apply the method to a bottling line at brewery Heineken Den Bosch and an assembly line at NXP Semiconductors

Customer satisfaction, trust and commitment as predictors of customer loyalty within an optometric practice environment

Optometric businesses need to adopt strategies to enhance loyalty, as customer satisfaction is not enough to ensure loyalty and customer retention. It has been stated that 85% of patients in the optometric industry who defect to other service providers were satisfied with the service received just before defecting. Consequently, to assist optometric practices in South Africa with their customer loyalty strategies, the purpose of the research conducted for this article was to develop an understanding of theinfluence of the independent variables of customer satisfaction, trust and commitment on customer loyalty within an optometric practice. The methodological approach followed was exploratory and quantitative in nature. The sample consisted of 357 patients who had visited the practice twice or more within the past six years. A structured questionnaire, with a five-point Likert scale, was used. A descriptive and multiple regression analysis approach was used to analyse the results. The main conclusion is that customer satisfaction had the highest correlation with customer loyalty, but the other independent variables also significantly influence customer loyalty within an optometric practice environment. The implication is that optometric practices need to focus on customer satisfaction, trustand commitment in order to improve customer loyalty.Key words: optometric practice, customer loyalty, customer retention, customer satisfaction, customer relationship managemen

Efficient optimization of the dual-index policy using Markov chains

3We consider the inventory control of a single product in one location with two supply sources facing stochastic demand. A premium is paid for each product ordered from the faster `emergency' supply source. Unsatistfied emand is backordered and ordering decisions are made periodically. The optimal control policy for this system is known to be complex. For this reason we study a type of base-stock policy known as the dual-index policy (DIP) as control mechanism for this inventory system. Under this policy ordering decisions are based on a regular and an emergency inventory position and their corresponding order-up-to-levels. Previous work on this policy assumes deterministic lead times and uses simulation to and their optimal order-up-to levels. We provide an alternate proof for the result that separates the optimization of the DIP in two one-dimensional problems. An insight from this proof allows us to generalize the model to accommodate stochastic regular lead times and provide an approximate evaluation method based on limiting results so that optimization can be done without simulation. An extensive numerical study shows that this approach yields excellent results for deterministic lead times and good results for stochastic lead times