383 research outputs found
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Marketing Commercial Records Centres in Zimbabwe: The Success Story Of Archive-It Services ?.
No full textAvailable at http://www.academia.edu/3823727/MARKETING_COMMERCIAL_RECORDS_CENTRES_IN_ZIMBABWE_THE_SUCCESS_STORY_OF_ARCHIVE-IT_SERVICES_This research project presents an assessment that was carried out to investigate the marketing activities of Commercial Records Centres (CRCs). The major aim of the project was to find out how CRCs, Archive-It Services as a typical case, managed to penetrate the Zimbabwean market especially during the economic meltdown period. Of major interest to the study were the marketing strategies that are employed by Archive-It Services in its endeavour to gain ground and recognition. The case study research method was adopted. Questionnaires and interviews were employed as primary data collection tools. Secondary data was collected through content analysis of the company?s records such as director?s annual reports, company?s profile, brochures and registers. For data presentation, tables, pie-charts and graphs were used. The research study found out that, although there are some financial and technical challenges that are being faced, marketing is actually one of the top priority functions at Archive-It Services as manifested by the number of marketing activities that the company carries out. This eventually explains the company?s success in introducing such an uncommon idea especially in the Zimbabwean market where the current economic conditions are not so favourable for ventures of such nature. Recommendations include familiarisation with the marketing concept, introduction of advertising as part of its promotion toolkit, aggressive campaigns and continued prioritisation of marketing on resource allocatio
Understanding the Poor Performance of Urban Sewerage Systems:A Case of Coldstream High Density Suburbs, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe
No full textThe population of Coldstream High Density Suburbs in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe is increasing and the sewerage system shows signs of poor performance. The frequency of reported sewerage system blockages in the suburb increased from 43 per month to 65 per month between April 2012 and March 2013. The suburb has also been experiencing water shortages. An increasing population and low water supply versus overflowing sewage is a potential health risk. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the causes of the sewer system poor performance. This was achieved by assessing the sewer system infrastructure as well as the operation of the system. The impact of the behaviour of residents on the performance of the system was also discussed. The main components of the infrastructure (manholes and sewers) were physically checked for soundness. The operation of the system was assessed by a hydraulic analysis of discharge, depth of flow and velocity of flow in the sewers. Questionnaires were used to investigate the impact of the behaviour of residents on the performance of the sewer system. It was found that 4% of the components of the sewer system infrastructure were below standard and the collector main sewer was the one mainly affected. 68% of the sewers along the collector main had velocity of flow below 0.6m/s and all the sewers had depth of flow below 50%. Of the residents interviewed, 90% dumped solid wastes in the sewers and 43% did so because they were unaware of the impact. It was concluded that the sewer system failed to meet standard because the sewer system fails to self-cleanse the solid waste dumped by residents in the sewers due to water shortages. It is recommended that the municipality raises awareness among residents and some of the infrastructure should be rehabilitated
The Efficacy of Alkaline Steeping in Extracting Proanthocyanidins and its effects on Malt quality in some Sorghum varieties
No full textResearch ArticleSorghum malt is an important raw material in opaque beer brewing. Use of high tannin sorghum varieties reduces malt
quality due to binding of tannins to proteins. Tannins are usually leached from sorghum grain using formalin during the
steeping stage of malting. However, formalin has been shown to have potentially harmful health effects thus driving the
need to find alternative methods of tannin removal. In this study, the effectiveness of alkalis (calcium and sodium
hydroxides) was assessed. The amount of tannins in red (NS5511) and brown (SMILE) malting sorghum varieties were
determined by the butanol-HCl assay and compared to other food varieties. The NS5511 and SMILE were steeped in
0.02M and 0.04M concentrations of each of Ca(OH)2, NaOH and formalin for 6hrs, subjected to germination conditions
(26?C for 115hours) and kilned off at 60?C for 50hours. The germination rate, as measured by the chit count was
determined and the alkali treated samples had the highest germination rates compared to formalin. Furthermore, the
alkali treated samples had highest diastatic units. The amount of residual tannins was determined, and formalin
treatment leached slightly more tannins than the alkalis. We conclude that alkalis can replace formalin since they are
almost equally effective and have less serious health effects.NUST Research Board, Delta Beverage
An Analysis of Determinants of Private Investment in Zimbabwe for the Period 2009- 2011
No full textAn analysis of Determinations of Private Investment in Zimbabwe for the period 2009-2011 is a published article of the Finance Department.The study set out to analyse the determinants of private investment post the introduction of the multi-currency
system in Zimbabwe (2009-2011). This was prompted by the sluggish growth in private investment thereby
crippling the economy?s growth on the large. Variables identified for the study include political risk, GDP,
national savings, inflation, interest rates, public investment, trade terms and debt servicing. To enhance the
analysis, the study assumed correlation analysis and multiple regression in an effort to examine how private
investment related to each identified variable as well as the net effect of each variable on private investment.
Though most results from correlation analysis are contrary to the research?s expectations, treating the
variables for co and multicollinearity gave theory aligned results in regression analysis. The study, though not
out rightly disregarding correlation results identifies political risk, interest rate, GDP, debt servicing and trade
terms as key determinants of private investment over the study period. Key though is the realisation that,
statistical significance of results is independent of the practicality of economic principles. In a bid to foster
economic growth and increase private investment, the study recommends the promotion of political stability,
the attraction of FDI, enabling a structured public-private dialogue and promoting Government investment in
infrastructure development among others
The Shopfloor teams in manufacturing, technology and productivity improvement.
No full textPublished in The Chronicle Newpaper of 2013 on the productivity columnThe challenges that we face as a nation and particularly the manufacturing sector may be
emanating from how we view things. The most important thing at this point in time is to
note that things are changing and they are changing fast. This terrific rate of change is
attributable to technology advancement. It is those that innovate, adopt and adapt to such
technological changes that would survive. The author says this because he realizes a gap
in the manufacturing sector in adopting new technologies. While we still cling to the old
way of doing things, we need to realize that the shopfloor teams remain critical in
improving productivity. This is against the background the world class manufacturing
companies now use Advanced Manufacturing Technologies with the computer taking
over as the operator of equipment
Six Sigma (6?) : A philosophy beyond ISO 9001 in Quality Management
No full textPublished in The Chronicle Newspaper of 28 March 2013 on the productivity column.The ISO 9000 series of standard is commonly known to provide an international
acceptable standard that organizations can develop and run the Quality Management
System. It has resulted in improvement of quality in many organizations and global
competitiveness for most. There are however developments in quality management that
are guided by philosophies such as the Six Sigma Philosophy. Such a philosophy can
guide your organization to greatness if it is properly followed
Equipment Maintenance and Modern Maintenance Management Principles.
No full textPublished in The Chronicle Newspaper of 9 May 2013 on the productivity columnEquipment in an organization occupies a very important role in delivering value to the
customer. It is the vehicle with which companies transform raw materials into finished
goods and it is even that which makes trading possible. By this I simply mean that
equipment is very important in a business. It thus should be treated with the importance
that it deserves. The major equipment for discussion in this article is machinery and how
it should be maintained. It is the discussion of how this maintenance should be done in a
modern world and the 21st century
Massive hemoptysis and complete unilateral lung collapse in pregnancy due to pulmonary tuberculosis with good maternal and fetal outcome: a case report.
No full textOpen Access Article.Background: We report an extremely rare case of massive hemoptysis and complete left-sided lung collapse in
pregnancy due to pulmonary tuberculosis in a health care worker with good maternal and fetal outcome.
Case presentation: A 33-year-old human immuno deficiency virus seronegative African health care worker in her
fourth pregnancy with two previous second trimester miscarriages and an apparently healthy daughter from her
third pregnancy presented coughing up copious amounts of blood at 18 weeks and two days of gestation. She
had a cervical suture in situ for presumed cervical weakness.
Computed tomography of her chest showed complete collapse of the left lung; subsequent bronchoscopy was
apparently normal. Her serum ?-human chorionic gonadotropin, tests for autoimmune disease and
echocardiography were all normal.
Her lung re-inflated spontaneously.
Sputum for acid alcohol fast bacilli was positive; our patient was commenced on anti-tuberculosis medication and
pyridoxine.
At 41 weeks and three days of pregnancy our patient went into spontaneous labor and delivered a live born
female baby weighing 2.6 kg with APGAR scores of nine and 10 at one and five minutes respectively. She and her
baby are apparently doing well about 10 months after delivery.
Conclusion: It is possible to have massive hemoptysis and complete unilateral lung collapse with spontaneous
resolution in pregnancy due to pulmonary tuberculosis with good maternal and fetal outcome
Modelling the subsurface geology and groundwater occurrence of the Matsheumhlope low yielding aquifer in Bulawayo urban, Zimbabwe
No full textJournal of Geography and GeologyThis study is focused on determining the nature, extend and spatial variation of the subsurface and groundwater
in the Matsheumhlope low yielding aquifer so as to improve the understanding of groundwater occurrence within
Bulawayo Metropolitan area. The abstraction and utilisation of groundwater from crystalline basement
complexes have often been hampered by the high rate of borehole failure. For instance, borehole failure in the
Matsheumhlope wellfield that characterises the greater part of Bulawayo City, Zimbabwe, is often ascribed to
many factors which are yet to be investigated locally and regionally. The electrical resistivity method was used
to establish the depth, thickness and sequence of geological units in the low yielding aquifer. Satellite data were
used to delineate the lineaments and assess the topographic features of the area. Geological samples obtained
from boreholes were correlated with the geophysical pseudo sections to give a better view of the subsurface and
groundwater occurrence in the area. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to model the geophysical
characteristics of the subsurface giving the potential groundwater occurrence in the area. The study confirmed
that the Matsheumhlope aquifer is a heterogeneous unconfined aquifer with a shallow depth to the basement rock
in highlands of the study area. The results also showed high spatial variation of subsurface formations and
groundwater potential over short distances, thereby indicating the complex nature of mapping basement aquifers.
Borehole failure in the area was attributed to the occurrence of shallow depth of the bedrock underlying some
parts of the aquifer. Therefore the results of the study recommended that the structural and geodynamic analysis
of the fractures of the whole Matsheumhlope aquifer should be done using both structural mapping and
geophysical methods
An Assessment of Health Information Management Infrastructures for Communication in the Matabeleland South Region Border-line Health Institutions in Zimbabwe.
No full textPresented at the 8th Health Informatics in Africa Conference (HELINA 2013). Peer-reviewed and selected under the responsibility of the Scientific Programme CommitteeDeveloping countries face the challenge of providing quality healthcare
to rapidly increasing populations without adequate infrastructure. Health information management
infrastructures are important for the smooth flow of important health information required for
efficient service delivery. They form the essential physical, logical and intellectual link that facilitates
the provision of health care services for a country. This study was carried out to assess the health
information management infrastructures for communication in the Matabeleland South Province of
Zimbabwe, particularly focusing on border line health facilities that stretch from Southern boarders
with Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana