On the anomalous component

The so-called anomalous cosmic ray component, which occurs at energies of about 10 MeV/nucleon and consists only of He, N, O, and Ne, has been a subject of interest for more than a decade. The origin of this component is generally considered to be interstellar neutral gas that is ionized and accelerated in the solar wind. The mechanism and the location for the acceleration, however, remains an unsolved problem. A model is used which includes the effects of gradient and curvature drifts and considers the implications of observed spatial gradients of the anomalous component for the location of the acceleration region. It is concluded that if drifts are important the acceleration region cannot lie at the solar poles. It is also concluded that there is no single region for the acceleration which can account for both the observed intensities and gradients in models which include drift effects

The future of accessing our past : collaboration and digitisation in libraries, archives and museums

Abstract: Technological innovation has led to disruptions in the global economy. In South Africa, one such disruption has been the shift towards the digitisation of resources that were previously only available in hard copy. Institutions most notably affected by the digitisation drive, have been libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs), which serve as important cultural heritage organisations. Considering the significant financial implications of a digitisation project, this paper explores the possible benefits and challenges that are faced when LAMs collaborate with each other, when digitising content. This qualitative, cross sectional study compared results from the data of 21 interview transcripts, which were first analysed through thematic coding in ATLAS.ti, and then analysed in Leximancer, a software tool which applies natural language processing to text..

Measuring a customer intimacy culture in a value discipline context.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate a questionnaire for the assessment of a customer intimacy culture in the value discipline context. The main survey was completed by using a convenience sample of permanent employees (N = 200) at line, middle and top management levels of an organisation in the entertainment industry. This sample was taken from staff on structured developmental paths, while attending scheduled training events. The 169 completed questionnaires that were returned were used for the final data analyses. Owing to the small sample size, an adapted procedure for first- and second-level factor analyses was used, followed by an iterative item analysis. The preliminary findings suggest that the questionnaire can be applied for assessing customer intimacy cultures

Designing for user experience : analysing app store reviews for app feature identification

Abstract: South Africa's blood stock level is often categorised as alarmingly low, leaving blood donation organisations in constant need of voluntary, unpaid blood donations to ensure their ability to supply hospitals with safe blood. Globally, there are successful mobile blood donation apps facilitating blood donation by providing useful services to blood donors, however similar apps available in South Africa are new, and not popular when compared to global standards. An estimated 5.9 million South Africans download and use mobile applications (apps), and this paper explores the process and results from the first phase of a study, which employed a sequential mixed method research design, to identify userpreferred features for a mobile blood donation app. The findings of the study should serve as a roadmap to blood donation organisations in South Africa, regarding what users expect from a blood donation app, and which features may possibly stimulate a constant or increased frequency of blood donation instances. The two largest app stores, Google Play and Apple iOS, served as the sources of the eventual sample of blood donation apps, of which the user reviews were analysed. Commenting from a design science paradigm, this paper reports on the selection process that had been followed to sample the relevant apps, and further discusses the user insights gained from the analysis of these apps' reviews. The paper further reports on how the app review analysis findings informed the creation of an interview schedule, that was used to gain in-depth understanding of perceptions held by users of the blood donation apps, specifically regarding the users' preferred features in these types of apps

The use of stimulants and complementary medicine to enhance mental alertness by health sciences students at the University of Johannesburg

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the use of stimulants and complementary medicine (CM) to enhance mental alertness by Health Sciences students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). This research was a quantitative-descriptive, survey design study. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to Health Sciences students between the ages of 18-40, who were registered at UJ for the 2016 academic year. The survey took place at the UJ Doornfontein campus; participation was voluntary and consent was given by participants prior to filling in the questionnaire. The questionnaire took approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. Data from the questionnaires was captured by the researcher and analysed using frequencies and column table analysis. The typical participant was female (74.7%), between the age of 18-20 (49.8%), of African race (58.3%), and in her first year of study (55.8%). Health concerns for mental alertness indicated that 84.3% of participants experienced a decrease in concentration or attention and 51% experienced low energy. Use of CM or stimulant-containing products was reported by 64% of participants. Awareness of any possible negative effects of CM or stimulant-containing products was reported by 42.0% of participants; while 17.8% were not aware of any possible negative effects and 40.3% were unsure of any possible negative effects. Participants most commonly made use of energy drink, caffeine, and vitamins and supplements to enhance their mental alertness. The outcomes of the study showed that there is a need for further education on CM and stimulant-containing products for students

Colophospermum mopane Wood Utilisation in the Northeast of the Limpopo Province, South Africa

The use of Colophospermum mopane wood was quantified from six villages in the northeast of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. One hundred and eighty individuals were interviewed from the selected villages. Three villages were located in the depleted woodlands and the remaining three at abundant woodlands. Traditional governance structures within the selected villages and relevant conservation department officials were also interviewed. Colophospermum mopane is an essential source of fuelwood and provide poles used for construction of traditional structures. Each family uses 6.8 ± 0.1 kg of Colophospermum mopane fuelwood for cooking day-1 in the woodland depleted villages, while 8.2 ± 0.2 kg is used at the woodland abundant villages. Colophospermum mopane is preferred for construction of traditional structures because its wood is durable and is able to resists the effects of termites and wood borers

On variant discovery in genomes of fungal plant pathogens

Comparative genome analyses of eukaryotic pathogens including fungi and oomycetes have revealed extensive variability in genome composition and structure. The genomes of individuals from the same population can exhibit different numbers of chromosomes and different organization of chromosomal segments, defining so-called accessory compartments that have been shown to be crucial to pathogenicity in plant-infecting fungi. This high level of structural variation confers a methodological challenge for population genomic analyses. Variant discovery from population sequencing data is typically achieved using established pipelines based on the mapping of short reads to a reference genome. These pipelines have been developed, and extensively used, for eukaryote genomes of both plants and animals, to retrieve single nucleotide polymorphisms and short insertions and deletions. However, they do not permit the inference of large-scale genomic structural variation, as this task typically requires the alignment of complete genome sequences. Here, we compare traditional variant discovery approaches to a pipeline based on de novo genome assembly of short read data followed by whole genome alignment, using simulated data sets with properties mimicking that of fungal pathogen genomes. We show that the latter approach exhibits levels of performance comparable to that of read-mapping based methodologies, when used on sequence data with sufficient coverage. We argue that this approach further allows additional types of genomic diversity to be explored, in particular as long-read third-generation sequencing technologies are becoming increasingly available to generate population genomic data